


Nora Valkyrie and the First Battle

by vividder



Series: RWBY HP AU [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, RWBY
Genre: Betrayal, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, F/F, Gen, Hogwarts AU, Order of the Phoenix - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 10:39:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 62,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18991012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vividder/pseuds/vividder
Summary: Now that Salem is leading her cult once again, the stakes have been raised.





	1. Dementors

Nora Valkyrie walked through the dark campground, holding a little girl’s hand as they headed back towards the cabins via starlit trails.  Both girls held flashlights, although Victoria seemed more interested in waving her light about to illuminate everything around them than keeping it on the path at their feet, leaving Nora to do most of the work watching out for obstacles and critters.

“How many stars are up there?” Victoria wondered, pausing to look at the clear sky.

Nora stopped beside her.  “I don’t know. Probably a lot more than we can see.”

“I wonder where God keeps them all.” And with that, she pulled Nora forward, her attention drawn somewhere else.

Nora followed.  The forest around them grew thicker, blocking out more of the ambient light.  But this was nothing to worry about because Nora had walked this same path all summer, night and day, and it felt as familiar to her as navigating the moving staircases at Hogwarts.

Until their flashlights flickered out.

Nora’s grip on Victoria’s hand immediately tightened.

“What happened to the lights?” Victoria’s grip tightened too, and she stepped backwards, bumping into Nora’s legs.

“Don’t let go of my hand, no matter what,” Nora instructed, tucking the flashlight into the waistband of her sweatpants and pulling out her wand.  

Victoria whimpered and shuddered, possibly from the sudden drop in the air’s temperature.

“This isn’t funny!”  Nora shouted. She shivered too.  Goosebumps rose on her arms.

She could hear the sound of something breathing in the darkness

She held her wand tightly.  There was no other option at this point.  “Lumos,” she said, and her wandlight flickered to life.

A cloaked, hooded figure floated in front of them, its ragged robes just hovering a few inches above the ground.

Victoria’s cries turned to horrified screams.

Nora pulled the girl behind her.  “Expecto Patronum!” Wisps of silver magic dissipated right off the end of her wand.  

It didn’t work.  Nora felt panic rise inside of her as she got colder, as she felt more alone.

Victoria would die and it would be all her fault.

She’d be no better than her mother.

Something fought against the tide of sadness and isolation flowing over her.  “Expecto Patronum,” she tried, but this time the spell was even weaker.

Suddenly, the feeling of a dead weight on her arm shocked Nora back to herself.

She was not going to let Victoria die if she could help it.  The world was too wide. She hadn’t experienced enough yet. The true family of loyal friends, the excitement of finding your strengths, the feeling of, for once in your life, being something significant.  Something larger than herself.

Nora had Ren to help pull herself away from being a statistic, another failure of a foster kid, and now Victoria needed Nora to do the same thing.

“Expecto Patronum!” Nora shouted again, and a giant, winged horse made of silver mist formed at the tip of her wand and charged the Dementor, headbutting its chest and throwing it back.  It flew away as the horse circled around and reared up, its silver glow revealing another Dementor whom had begun to pull Victoria away from Nora.

Nora felt sick.  She hadn’t even noticed that one.

The horse’s hooves collided with the Dementor’s chest and pushed it back.  As the monster fled, the horse shook its head and snorted before vanishing into silver mist.

Nora bent down and picked up the girl, who started to stir.

“It’s gone now,” Nora said.  “Come on.”

She wished she had some chocolate.  It was the only thing to stop the soul-sucking sadness the Dementors brought.  

“Let’s...let’s go back to the nurse,” Nora suggested.  Victoria looked pale and ill. Her skin was still cold.  

Nora tried to look strong, even as she shook.  

After several minutes of struggling, Nora managed to get Victoria balanced on her hip and a flashlight clutched between her hand and the girl’s back, her wand secure again underneath her clothes.

She ran as fast as she dared in the direction from which she had come.

Nora found herself standing in front of the door to the nurse’s cabin and adjusted herself to free one hand to pound on the door.

The door opened.  “Nora?” the nurse said.

“She fainted while we were walking back,” Nora explained, handing Victoria to the nurse, who put her on the cot in her tiny exam room.  “I didn’t know what to do,” Nora said, and to her surprise, tears came to her eyes. 

“You did well,” the nurse replied, patting her shoulder as she grabbed a small caddy of doctor’s tools and began to shine lights in Victoria’s eyes and ears.  “Sweetie, what’s the last thing you remember before you fainted?”

“Dark.  Cold,” she whimpered.  

The nurse scribbled this on a pad.

“Where were you?”

“Walking to the cabin.”

“In the woods,” Nora added.

The nurse nodded.  “Did she hit her head?”

“Not that I know of.”

The nurse looked at Nora and nodded.  “Fine. Go to bed. I’ll let you know if I need any more information tomorrow.”  Her expression softened. “You did the right thing. Get some rest.”

With one last look at Victoria, Nora headed out of the cabin.  Immediately, an owl swooped down and landed on the monkey bars in the playground next to the cabin.  It hooted at her.

Nora looked over.  It held a letter in one clawed foot. 

Nora looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was around, then took the letter and opened it with her finger, reading it by the light of the flashlight held in her mouth.

_ Dear Miss Valkyrie: _

_ We have received intelligence that you have performed the Patronus Charm at forty-eight minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle.   _

_ The severity of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Ministry representatives will be calling at your current place of residence shortly to destroy your wand.  _

_ Your presence will be required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9 AM on August 12 for the breach of Section 13 of the International Confederation of Wizards’ Statue of Secrecy. _

_ Hoping you are well, _

_ Yours Sincerely, _

_ Mafalda Hopkirk _

_ Improper Use of Magic Office _

_ Ministry of Magic _

Nora’s hands tightened on the edges of the paper, wrinkling it.  Her chest tightened and tears began to fall from her eyes, smearing the ink.  She sobbed, her breaths coming in sharp gasps before she looked up.

Hogwarts was all she had.  The only consistency, besides Ren, she had ever known in her life.  The only true friends, the only place she’d ever felt truly accepted.  The only chance she’d had for a future.

The happy memory that had let her summon her Patronus to save Victoria.

And now she would lose it all.  She would never see her friends again.  She’d be chucked into another shitty foster home and sent to a school full of Muggles who would make fun of her.  Her best friend would be gone nine months of the year, and she would be alone. Truly alone.

Nora sat there for several minutes, just reading the letter, before she wiped her eyes and stood up.

She couldn’t let them find her.

They wouldn’t take this away from her.

Sitting here worrying was just a waste of time.

Carefully, Nora shredded the letter and scattered the scraps in the woods as she walked back through the woods.

Okay, they could triangulate her magic as long as she was underage, so doing that was out.  She’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Nora went back to her cabin.  By now, lights out had been called and all the girls and Linda were in their beds, asleep.

Quietly, Nora knelt by her bed and began to pack her backpack with the essentials.  Toothbrush, clothes, wand, money, her few trinkets, leftover candy she’d bought at the convenience store.  Soon, she pulled it shut and struggled to zip it closed before slipping out of the cabin and making her way out of the campgrounds, to the main road.

Once she was out of sight, she stuck her thumb up over her shoulder and headed towards town.  She’d buy a bus ticket. Go far away. Find a way to let Ren know where she was without alerting anyone else.

As she walked, her mind kept going back to the Dementors.

Why was she attacked?  They were supposed to be guarding Azkaban, right?  Why would they have been in a campground? No person with common sense would have let them around children.  She remembered, vividly, Professor Ozpin’s fury in their third year when the Ministry of Magic wanted to place Dementors in the castle.

She remembered how her last year of Hogwarts had ended.

Was this a sign of something bigger?


	2. Running Away and Running To

Nora got a letter the next morning, the owl flying into the window of the McDonalds where a trucker had dropped her off earlier.

“Shit be cray, man,” the employee behind the counter had told his partner in the back, but Nora had known what the owl’s strange behavior indicated.

Quickly, Nora finished the last of her pancakes and hash browns before leaving the store, going to the tables outside where the owl had perched. It glared at her as if to tell her to hurry up.

She took the letter from the owl and tore it open.

_ Nora-- _

_ Just heard what happened.  Ozpin’s looking into everything.  Don’t hand over your wand. Don’t do any more magic.  Stay where you are. See amended order from Ministry of Magic. _

_ \--Taiyang Xiao Long _

Nora pushed the scrap of paper aside and placed it underneath the larger, more formal letter from the Ministry of Magic.

_ Dear Miss Valkyrie, _

_ Further to our letter of approximately eight hours ago, the Ministry of Magic has revised its decision to destroy your wand forthwith.  You may retain your wand until your hearing on 12th August, at which time an official decision will be made.  _

_ This hearing will also determine your enrollment status at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  You should therefore consider yourself suspended from school until an official decision can be reached regarding your potential expulsion. _

_ With best wishes, _

_ Yours sincerely, _

_ Mafalda Hopkirk _

_ Improper Use of Magic Office _

_ Ministry of Magic _

Nora turned Mr. Xiao Long’s letter over and scribbled on the back of it.  

_ Too late.  Ran away. _

_ Let Ren know I’m okay and that I’ll figure something out.   _

_ Nora _

She sent it back with the owl.

 

Nora kept traveling.  She bought a bus ticket once, but tried to hitchhike when she could.  If anyone asked her where she was going, Nora really didn’t have any idea.  She just wanted to keep moving, keep them from finding her.

By this point, she’d blown all her chances in both the wizarding and human worlds.  Nothing to do but keep doing what she was doing and maybe hope to get back to Ren one day.  Nora generally didn’t like to linger on her past actions, to reflect and regret, but when she thought of what Ren might be going through, she felt genuinely sorry.  She missed him so much.

She got another owl a week later as she laid on a bench in a park one night.

_ We need you to stay in one spot long enough to pick you up. _

_ Everything will be fine.  We’ll get everything worked out, but you need to stop panicking and trust us. _

_ Mr. Xiao Long _

Nora sighed.  Fine, this time she would do as they said.  She flipped over the note and scribbled on the back of the paper with a pen she stole from a petrol station.  She did her best to describe the park and promised that she would be there every night for the next week, but that the Muggles were also looking for her too, and she didn’t want them to find her.  She added another note to please tell Ren she was okay, then sent it off with the owl.

 

Two nights later, Nora saw something strange.  The streetlamps lining the roads bordering the park began to flick out, one by one.  She sat up on the bench, pulled her wand out of her backpack, and raised it before standing in a fighting stance.

“Don’t try anything funny,” she announced to the playground equipment. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with!”

“Shut yer trap, girl, before the Muggles start calling their Aurors,” a grizzled voice said, coming from the wooded path in the trees.

Nora jumped and spun around.  She recognized that voice.

“Professor Moody?”

“I’m not quite sure about Professor, seeing as I never taught you.”  He reached out a hand as he approached. “You live up to your name, Miss Valkyrie.”

“That’s exactly what your imposter said to me.”  She kept her wand raised.

“I can vouch for him.”  Mr. Xiao Long lit the tip of his wand, and the confrontation glowed in a soft, pale blue light.  “Good to see you, Nora.”

Nora tried to hide her surprise. “Where are you taking me?”

“We have a safe house,” Taiyang explained.  “Ruby, Yang, and Blake are already waiting for you.”

Nora’s eyes widened.  “Did anything happen?”

“No, no,” Taiyang said.  “It’s just for planning.”

“Did you even stop to think that this might not be Miss Valkyrie, but an imposter, Taiyang, before you started telling her anything?” Moody admonished.  “Constant--!”   
“Vigilance, yeah, I know.”  Taiyang smiled. “What’s your Patronus, Nora?”

“A winged horse.”

“She’s Nora, Moody.”

“Then let’s go.  You got a broom, girlie?”

“Uh, no.”

“It’s okay, we brought an extra,” Taiyang said.  He reached into his backpack and pulled out an old broom, full-size, that couldn’t possibly have fit in the bag without magic.  He handed it to Nora. 

“I haven’t really ridden a broom before,” she admitted.

“You’ll catch on quickly,” Taiyang reassured her.  

And soon, they set off.  As the three ascended into the cool night air, Moody took something that looked like a lighter out of his pocket.  He made a motion to ignite it. Nora wondered what the point was. The wind was blowing her hair into a bushy mess and pushing her skin back against her face.  The flame would certainly go out.

But it didn’t ignite with a flame.  Instead, globules of light came out of the lighter, floating back down to the street fading below them and settling back to where they belonged, outlining the streets and peeking out of the windows of houses.

“IT’S A PUT-OUTER!” Moody shouted back to her, which didn’t really explain anything.

They flew for a long time.  Nora started out struggling to balance and held onto her broom for dear life until her fingers had gone slightly blue from the wind and cold up in the clouds.  

But as the ride continued, she just couldn’t stay afraid.  Anxious and uncomfortable and frozen to the bone, yes, but not actively scared out of her mind.  

She smiled as she started to see how Ruby could love flying so much.  If she could experiment...it actually would probably be a lot of fun.

Mad-Eye Moody directed them as they flew over the countryside to avoid any Muggles looking up.

“We ought to double back!  Make sure we aren’t followed!” Mad-Eye shouted at one point.

“No way!  It’s too cold, and we’re almost there!” Taiyang shouted back.  “Nora, follow me!”

She watched and copied her teacher as they began to head downwards, a slow, steady descent over the rooftops before landing in an unkempt roundabout in a shabby suburb.  Nora tumbled off her broom into a hedge someone had planted in their yard. Already, the lights around them flickered out as Moody held the Put-Outer in one hand and controlled his broom with the other.

Nora stood up and brushed herself off.

“Where is this?” Nora asked, looking around.

The air smelled like pot.  More than one yard was filled with random rusted junk.

Moody clicked the Put-Outer until all the lights but the moon had vanished.  He reached into his pocket and held out a bit of paper. “Read this and memorize it.  Quickly, girl!”

Nora unfolded the scrap and looked at the text.  Professor Ozpin’s handwriting.

_ The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London. _

Nora looked around.  “But there isn’t--”

“Just think about what you read,” Moody encouraged her.

Nora ran the words through her mind.   _ The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London. The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London… _

Suddenly, a house began to appear, starting with a door between numbers 11 and 13.  From there, a porch and walls formed. The adjacent houses got squashed to the side, but based on the lack of screams from within, their inhabitants hadn’t noticed.  The newly visible house looked old and raggedy, like it needed a lot of repairs, but it seemed solid enough for something that had just appeared from thin air.

Nora gaped at it.

Taiyang and Moody walked her to the door.  Taiyang tapped it twice with his wand, and Nora could hear multiple locks opening from the inside before the door creaked open.

The inside of the house was just as dark as the outside. 

“Go inside, but don’t go far and don’t touch anything,” Taiyang warned her.  Nora took a few steps into the foyer, only able to see paintings on the walls and an ancient wood floor before Mad-Eye closed the door behind her.  He waved his wand, and gaslamps on the walls lit themselves, revealing the hallway to Nora in its entirety.

The door at the far end of the hall opened.  A Faunus woman with cat ears and short, dark hair stood with her back to a kitchen.  “The meeting’s already started,” she told the men, who pushed past Nora and to the door.  

Taiyang turned around.  “The meeting’s for Order members only,” he told Nora, before turning back to the woman.  “Kali, are the girls upstairs?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Nora, just go up the stairs to the second floor.  That’s where all their bedrooms are, so they should be there.”

Nora headed up the stairs, each step creaking slightly under her weight.  The landing above was lit by the same soft light as the hallway below. She listened, but couldn’t hear anything from behind the closed doors.

Well.

Guess she just had to pick one.

Nora turned left and turned the knob on the black door slowly.  It felt weird, kind of icky, to be touching a doorknob that looked like a snake.  In fact, this whole place felt Dark and sinister, not like Hogwarts at all.

She hadn’t really expected much from the safe house, but this didn’t really feel safe at all.

That changed when she saw the warmly lit room and its inhabitants.

“Nora!”  Yang ran to her, hugged her tightly, then held her out at arm’s length.  “You smell.”

“I’ve been living like a homeless person for a week, of course I smell,” Nora said, looking around the room, which had two beds, two nightstands, and two dressers.  Ruby and Blake sat on the floor, a chessboard abandoned between them as stood to greet their friend.

They both hugged Nora.

“What is this place?” Nora asked, setting down her bag and sitting cross-legged on the floor.  As badly as she wanted to get clean and eat some food, she wanted to know the story behind this weird old house even more.

“It’s our uncle’s place,” Ruby said.  “He’s been getting it set up as Ozpin’s headquarters.  As you can tell...it’s kinda been abandoned for a long time.”

“You can’t make any noise in the front hallway,” Yang said.  “In case no one told you. It wakes up the portrait of our great aunt and then no one can get her to shut up.  Also, watch out for booby traps and spells. Uncle Qrow’s pretty sure there’s nothing lethal around here, but Uncle Qrow also drinks a lot, so…”  She shrugged. “You just kinda gotta trust that you’re not gonna explode when you open a door.”

“Okay, then.”  Nora drew out the ‘O’ in okay.  “Anything else I should know? What about that meeting downstairs?”

“It’s the Order of the Phoenix,” Blake said.  “We’re not allowed in, apparently.”

“Too young,” Yang said.  “Ruby went toe-to-toe with Salem last year though.  Doesn’t that mean we’re not too young to fight?”

“Whatever, they don’t seem to care about that,” Ruby replied.  “Do you want to get cleaned up before dinner? No offense, but Yang was right.  You smell.”

“Whatever, you’re all haters,” Nora said, but gratefully followed Ruby to the upstairs shower.


	3. The Order of the Phoenix

After she got dressed in her least-worn clothes and tried to get her hair straightened out, she returned to the tiny bedroom to find Ruby standing there.  “Yang and Blake went to help set the table,” she explained. “Dinner’s ready.”

Carefully, they crept downstairs, Ruby leading the way, holding her breath.  

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Nora’s hip bumped into an end table, causing a vase on top to crash to the floor. It shattered, leaving a puddle of water, flowers, and glass shards in front of the door.

“Oh my god--”

Nora shrieked as the curtains above the table flew open to reveal a life-sized, life-like portrait of a woman in the frame behind them.

The woman screamed back.  Nora just sat there stunned.  Ruby clapped her hands over her ears.  “Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness!  Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, animals! Begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers!”

The screaming continued until Taiyang and a dark-haired man ran out of the kitchen door and each grabbed the curtain.

“SHUT--THE--FUCK---UP!” The dark-haired man roared, forcing the curtains together.  He turned and brushed his hair out of his face. “Sorry about that.”

Nora’s eyes widened.  “You’re Qrow Branwen! You’re the murderer!”

The portrait started screeching again.

“Um, no, not really.  It’s a long story,” Ruby said, and pulled her friend through the doors to the kitchen as the men tried to shut the curtains and quiet the portrait once again.  “But the short version is, he’s not a murderer.”

The kitchen door opened into a very large room with a cauldron hanging over a fireplace at the far end, flames crackling underneath.  The lack of decorations made it look empty and cold. Most of the space in the center of the room had been filled by a large, long table surrounded by too many chairs.  Counters, cabinets, and other storage spaces lined the walls.

“Okay.  But didn’t he, like, attack Blake in our third year?  If I remember, there was a knife in our wall!” Ruby looked at her like she was taking this too seriously.  “Come on. Only one of the most wanted criminals in Wizarding and Muggle Britain is currently fighting a portrait outside of this room.  It’d be nice to just confirm that, you know, he didn’t actually try to murder us at one point!”

“Remember that raven we used to have?” Yang said as she brought two pitchers over to the table.  “Turns out that raven was an Animagus in disguise and a crazy cultist. And also my mother, so there you go.  And that’s why we’re not getting any more pets.”

“I was just as surprised,” Blake said from where she stood, slicing a loaf of bread with a knife.  “You get used to it, though.”

“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Nora, the Daily Prophet is full of liars,” Qrow said as Taiyang followed him in.  “I hear from Tai that you can produce a full Patronus. Impressive.”

“Thank you,” Nora said.  She looked around the room.  Some of the faces looked familiar.

A large Faunus man and the woman from earlier also stood in the kitchen.  The woman stopped stirring the pot and went over to Nora. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nora.  Blake has told us so much about you.”

Her husband nodded.

Blake gestured to the couple.  “Those are my parents, in case you couldn’t tell.”  She turned to a couple people filing things away in a cabinet.  “And you know Coco already.”

Coco waved.  

“It’s good to see you, Nora!”

“And Sun was my date to the Yule Ball last year.  The guy with the blue hair is Neptune.”

They greeted her too.

“And that’s Mundungus.”  Blake’s expression told Nora that she didn’t think very highly of him.

“Huh?” said a form that looked more like a pile of rags than a man.  He stirred in his chair. 

“Never mind,” Blake said.

It wasn’t long before plates and bowls of food had been placed on the table and everyone had dug in.  They ate in silence, not making much conversation for a little while. Clearly, everyone had had a busy day.

For Nora, the food was the best she’d had since Hogwarts and the most filling meal since she’d gone on the run.

“So, apart from getting attacked, what have you been up to?” Yang asked Nora.

Nora explained about the summer camp to her.  Apparently that just wasn’t a thing in the wizarding world, and she had to explain a lot of basic ideas to them that she’d just...understood as a part of Muggle culture.

Nora figured that she might never stop being surprised at what she didn’t know about the wizarding world, and what the wizarding world didn’t know about things she saw as commonplace.

“And you guys?”

“Cleaning this stupid house,” Yang grumbled.  “The Branwens were a Dark family. This house was full of Dark magic, then just abandoned.  It’s got all sorts of weird stuff in it.”

“But if it’s a Branwen house...wouldn’t your mom know where to find it?”

“The house is protected,” Qrow said.  “I’m almost certain she doesn’t know about it.  The deed has been passed around so many times that the house is barely owned under the Branwen name.  Ozpin found the records in an old archive somewhere. The spells used make it so that Raven can’t find this place, even if she wanted to, unless Oz tells her the address himself.”

“The spell is solid,” Blake’s father said.  “And you don’t have to worry about the Muggles either, should you leave the premises.  The Ministry has ensured that they believe they know where you are.”

Nora felt like a weight had just been removed from her shoulders.  “Thank you.”

“The hearing should be solidly in your favor,” Mrs. Belladonna said.  “The law states that underage magic is permitted if life is at risk. As far as we understand, it’s just a formality.”

“Just a formality, my ass,” Qrow muttered.

“Qrow!” Mrs. Belladonna admonished.

Qrow opened his mouth to respond, but Mundungus tapped him on the arm with a grimy finger and held up a goblet from the table.  “Are these real silver?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

Meanwhile, Mrs. Belladonna turned to Taiyang.  “I believe something’s taken up residence in the writing desk upstairs.  It keeps rattling. I think we should let Alastor look at it before we let it out.”

Next to Ruby, Coco told tales of her Auror training to the other girls.  “So then I said, “You can’t Stun a cabinet, Marcy!” and Marcy said…”

As everyone finished their meals, Mr. Belladonna stood and went to get a cake for dessert.  Soon, everyone was full and happy and the conversation around the table fell into a lull.

“I think it’s about time for the girls to get to bed,” Mr. Belladonna said.  “It’s been a long day.”

“And we’ve got lots of plans for tomorrow,” Taiyang added, sharing a knowing look with Mrs. Belladonna.

Ruby sighed.  But any other expression of disapproval stopped when Qrow spoke up.

“No, I think we’ve still got more to discuss.  Dementors attacked a kid on her summer vacation.  Clearly, we’re not the only ones Salem wants out of the way.”

“Qrow, they can’t join the Order--” Taiyang protested.

“But they deserve to know what’s going on so they can protect themselves!”

“This is dangerous, Qrow!  They’re just kids! They shouldn’t be fighting a war!”

“They’re already fighting a war, Tai!  Ruby saw Cinder Fall resurrect Salem. Nora got attacked by Dementors.  Yang’s mother is one of the top leaders of Salem’s cult, and the White Fang is falling apart as we speak.  What else has to happen before they’re ready to know the truth about what’s going on?”

“Knowledge is power,” Mr. Belladonna said.  “But it is also responsibility. I think Blake is old enough to decide for herself if she would like to make that choice.”

“Fine.”  Taiyang looked at his friend.  “I know Ruby and Yang can handle themselves.  But I don’t want anything to happen to them. I’ve lost enough to these cults.  I’m not losing my daughters too.”

“We want to help.”  Yang sat forward. 

“Ruby?”

“Me too.”

Taiyang sighed.  “Looks like they’ve made their choices.  Nora?”

She nodded.  

Everyone who had been about to leave the table settled down again.

Mr. Belladonna began.  “The Order of the Phoenix was established by Professor Ozpin in order to counter Salem and her cult. Now, I’m not sure if you know, but Ozpin is a bit of a scholar of magical history.  According to him, the first thing these Salem cults normally do is try and amass as many followers as they can. After all, Salem represents chaos. The more people who represent her, the more people who will act in her name to ruin wizarding society as we know it.  So, Ozpin’s strategy is to raise as many people committed to taking down the cult as he can. Right now, we think Salem is going after the Faunus. Although I no longer lead them, the White Fang has started to become a more radical organization. Sienna is a strong leader, but she and I disagree as to whether or not the Faunus should engage in any sort of violent demonstrations.  I’m afraid that a faction, if not the entire organization, would fall to Salem if given the opportunity and encouragement to partake in these kinds of actions.”

“So we’re working within the Ministry and other organizations to try and recruit our own allies.  Ghira and I are working with the White Fang and the Faunus to feel out whom we can trust and where beliefs lie,” Mrs. Belladonna explained.

“It’s not easy.”  Neptune crossed his arms over his chest.

“People just don’t want to believe Salem is back and the Minister refuses to acknowledge it,” Coco said.

“But Ozpin told him!” Ruby protested.

“And that’s the reason,” Taiyang said. 

“Fudge thinks Oz is out to get him.”  Qrow took a drink from a flask.

“But why?” Nora asked.  

“Fudge thinks Ozpin wants to replace him as Minister,” Taiyang said.  

“Even though Oz doesn’t want the job, has never applied for the job, nor given a shit about the job,” Qrow interjected.

“Qrow!” Taiyang snapped.

“Well, it’s true,” Qrow muttered.

Taiyang picked up the story.  “Long story short, the Ministry would rather pretend that nothing’s wrong and that Ozpin’s lying than actually take action.”

“So how are we getting the story out?” Ruby asked.  

“That’s the hard part,” Neptune said.  “Because if we want to keep our people in the Ministry, then they can’t say anything without getting fired.  And we know Salem’s got people in the Ministry, so we can’t afford to lose our people.”

“But it’s not like we’re not doing anything.  Neptune’s making this sound way worse than it is.”  Sun smirked. “The nice thing about already being enemies with the Minister of Magic is that Ozpin can say whatever he likes.”

“The downside to that is that the Ministry can take everything from Ozpin that gives him credibility, Sun,” Ghira responded.  “They’ve already stripped him of two of his titles within the past month. If he loses Hogwarts or ends up in Azkaban, a lot of children will be left unaware and unprotected.”

“But the Salem cult wasn’t exactly subtle at the Quidditch World Cup,” Yang pointed out.  “People will figure it out, right?”

“That was a party trick,” Qrow said.  “Now that Salem is on Earth, her followers aren’t going to be so brazen.  They’ll follow her orders to the letter and make sure that they don’t mess anything up.  They’ll want to be as powerful as possible when they strike.”

“There’s gotta be more, though,” Blake said.  “They’ll need other resources too.”

“An artifact--” Qrow began.

“That’s enough,” Taiyang said, standing.  “That’s all you need to know.”

But his glare at Qrow didn’t go unnoticed as the girls left the room and headed upstairs to bed.

 

Ruby and Yang headed off into the room everyone had been in earlier, and Blake and Nora took one of the others.  Nora’s battered backpack already sat on the empty bed. She went over to it, and Blake locked the door.

“What’s that for?”

“There’s a House-Elf here named Kreacher and he’s...weird,” Blake said, unwrapping the ribbon from around her cat ears and placing it on her dresser.  “He woke me up digging through my stuff, then muttered slurs at me until I kicked him out of the room.”

“Lovely.”

Nora sat on her bed and sighed.  “I wish Ren were here.”

“You can write, if you want,” Blake offered.  “There’s a post office in the town and we’re allowed to use owls every so often.”

“I’ll do that, it’s just...it’s been a long time.  I just wish I could personally tell him that I’m okay, you know?”

“I get that.”   

 

Ruby sighed once Yang had locked their bedroom door behind them.  “Well, we kind of already guessed all that stuff,” she said. “Except the stuff about the weapon.”

“Salem’s a goddess,” Yang said.  “What would she want with a weapon?”

“Maybe it’s not for her.  Maybe Ozpin has it now, and she’s trying to keep it away from him.  Maybe she needs it for her followers.”

“I get the point.  But still...what can a weapon do that the Unforgiveable Curses can’t?”

 

Their main excitement for the rest of the summer was cleaning.  Despite knowing what the Order was up to, the students still weren’t permitted to participate.  As a result, Kali herded them up to the most unused rooms at the top of the house with cleaning supplies and trash bags and emergency antidotes and set them to work getting rid of the rubbish no one had touched in the past few decades, except for Kreacher, who kept trying to steal it.

Every so often, Order members dropped by to drop something off, come for a meeting, report a piece of information, or just to join everyone else for dinner.  They saw their Transfiguration and Potions professors outside the windows at least once a week.

But strangely enough, even though everyone took orders from him, Ozpin didn’t show up at all.

Mundungus showed up a few times with stolen goods, which always got him thrown out of the house by Taiyang or one of the Belladonnas.  Seeing someone else get in trouble for mischief when they’d been stuck cleaning specifically to  _ avoid _ mischief made their days a little brighter.

 

One day that summer, when the house was quieter than usual, Nora approached Ruby in the hallway on the second floor between their bedrooms.  “This is going to sound really weird,” Nora said. “But have you been having strange dreams about a hall with a locked door? Strange as in, they don’t quite feel like normal dreams, but you don’t know how a dream can’t be normal if most of them don’t make sense anyway?”

Ruby’s eyes widened.  “You have them too?”

Nora nodded.  “They started this summer.”

“I think it’s like that dream I had in Divination,” Ruby said.  “You wrote in that journal back in second year too, didn’t you?”

“A little bit.”

“Professor Ozpin said he thinks that maybe we accidentally bonded ourselves to Cinder when we wrote in it, since it was trying to take pieces of our souls and replace them with hers,” Ruby explained.  “I guess, now that Salem’s around in her head too…”

“We’ll be connected to her too.  Ruby, do you know what this means?  We could be spies!”

“No way,” Ruby said.  “I would like to keep my thoughts far away from Salem.  Besides, we don’t know. What if it’s reciprocal? What if she can see our thoughts too in her dreams?  What if she can, I dunno, use that connection to control us? It’d just be like a worse version of the Imperius curse.”

But Nora still had that determined glint in her eye.  “Does the Order know?”

“I’m waiting to tell them until we can figure out what this link can do and if what I see is actually real.  Besides, we don’t even know where the door is! How can we tell them where to go looking if we can barely even describe it to them?”  Ruby avoided meeting Nora’s eyes. “And I don’t want them to worry about me. Everyone already does.”

“We don’t have to tell them now,” Nora agreed.  “We can wait.” She really would rather have told the Order, but decided to respect Ruby’s wishes, as Ruby would have done for her.  “And you don’t need worrying about. You’re a kickass person who can stand up for themselves against just about anything!”

“Thanks, Nora,” Ruby said quietly, a small smile crossing her lips.


	4. Hearing and Being Heard

The subject of Nora’s hearing only came up again right before it happened.  “I think you might want to try on some of Blake and Yang’s dresses before the hearing tomorrow,” Mrs. Belladonna said.  “I’m not sure which will fit you better, but you’ll want to try to make a good impression for the hearing.”

Nora’s heart sank and she looked at her plate.  She didn’t really feel like eating anymore. “How am I going to get there?” she asked the mashed potatoes.

“You can come in with me,” Mr. Belladonna said.  “We’re in the Department of Magical Law, after all.  No need to have you wander all over the Ministry before your trial.”

 

Later that evening, the girls stood in Ruby and Yang’s room, watching Nora try on dresses in front of a mirror.

“Not yellow,” Blake said from her perch on the dresser..  “Yellow is not your color.”

“Agreed,” Ruby said.

Nora tried on another dress, this one black and dark blue.

“Eh, not bad,” Yang said.  “I don’t know. Blake?”

“I think you can do better.  You can pull off dark colors, but they just don’t look like you.”  Blake tossed her Nora a white dress and Nora caught it. “Try that one.”

Nora took off the blue dress and put on the other one.  Yang helped do the zipper on the back.

“When did you become such a fashion genius?” Ruby asked Blake.

Blake shrugged.  “It’s not anything special.”

“Ta da!”  Yang interrupted their conversation as Nora smiled sheepishly.  Blake was indeed correct, the white looked much better on Nora than the blue.

“I’ve got just the thing!” Yang said, and Blake hopped off the dresser so Yang could begin hunting through the disorganized drawers.  She emerged after a few moments of rummaging around with a white ribbon, which she tied around Nora’s head. 

“Now that’s what I call dressed to kill,” Yang said.  “But not literally.”

Nora did a little spin.  “Thanks for letting me borrow the dress, Blake.”

“Just make sure you rock the hearing.”

 

Nora felt a hand on her shoulder the next morning and rolled over to look up whoever had woken her.  Mrs. Belladonna stood over Nora’s bed, backlit by the door. “Time to get up,” she whispered. Nora nodded, then Mrs. Belladonna walked out of the room.  Nora slipped out of her pajamas and into the dress, zipping it up herself. Through the entire exchange, Blake hadn’t stirred. The book she’d been reading the previous night sat precariously on the edge of the bed, and Nora picked it up and moved it to the floor.

She slipped on her sneakers and the hair ribbon Yang let her borrow before heading downstairs.  

When she stepped into the kitchen, she found a full crowd and a full breakfast.

“Ready for today, Nora?” Coco asked.

“I hope so,” she said as she sat in front of an empty plate and began to scoop eggs onto it.  

“It will all be over soon,” Taiyang said.  “It’s just a formality. Besides, I’ve heard that Amelia Bones is going to be overseeing things.  She’s stern, but fair. Your chances are good.”

“Thanks,” Nora said.

“Just tell the truth and you’ll be fine,” Qrow said.  

“But don’t get defensive.  If there’s one thing that they don’t like in those hearings, it’s arrogance.  You had no choice in the matter, and they’ll understand that, but you should sound like you regret doing it.”  Mrs. Belladonna put some mugs back in one of the cupboards.

“What a bunch of hypocrites,” Qrow snarked.

Mr. Belladonna smiled at Nora from across the table as the conversation fell into a lull. The adults mostly talked about their work as they finished eating, and Nora focused on the conversation, not on her nerves.

This was the longest she had ever gone without talking to Ren, and she missed him deeply, more than ever.  It felt like she still had an exposed wound from where part of her had been ripped away.

So when Mr. Belladonna told her it was time to go, Nora jumped to her feet and nearly knocked over the chair.

“See you later!”  She failed at sounding like the idea of the hearing didn’t make her hair stand on end.

“Good luck,” Taiyang said.

“What are you talking about?  She’ll be fine,” Qrow replied, and the sounds of quiet, friendly bickering followed the pair out of the house.

 

They took the tube to the Ministry of Magic, which Nora found strange.  “Don’t you have other ways to get there?” she asked Mr. Belladonna, who chuckled.

“Ordinarily, yes. But you can’t Apparate, so that’s not an option today.”

“Apparate?”

Mr. Belladonna looked surprised at the question.  “No one has told you about Apparition?”

“Nope.  I’m a Muggleborn through and through.”  Nora looked at her lap.

“Apparition is teleportation performed with magic,” Mr. Belladonna explained.  “Very advanced magic, and very dangerous too, but efficient if you know what you’re doing.”

“I see.”

“And don’t speak badly about yourself for being a Muggleborn.  Lots of the most innovative wizards and witches throughout history have been Muggleborns.  They were the ones who could see beyond our little chunk of the world and make the changes we needed when we needed them.  The blood in your veins doesn’t make you any more or less of a person.”

Nora thought about that as they got off the train and walked down the dreary London streets.  But her thoughts were interrupted when the reached a phone box and Mr. Belladonna held the door open for her.

“Who are we calling?” she asked.

“Just go in,” he encouraged.

They squeezed in and Nora pressed herself against the inside of the phone booth to make room for Mr. Belladonna’s bulk.

Mr. Belladonna dialed a phone number with the rotary phone.  “This is the guest entrance,” he explained. “We just have to enter the code.”

As the dial slid back into place one last time, a voice echoed through the box, as clear as if someone was standing next to Nora and had spoken in her ear.

“Welcome to the Ministry of Magic.  Please state your name and business.”

Nora flinched and bumped into Mr. Belladonna, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.  “Ghira Belladonna, Department of Magical Law, Faunus-Wizards Relations Division, escorting Miss Nora Valkyrie to a disciplinary hearing.”

“Thank you,” the voice said.  “Visitor, please take the badge and affix it to your clothing where it will be visible at all times.”

There was a rattling sound, and then a little metal name badge reading  _ Nora Valkyrie, Disciplinary Hearing _ appeared in the coin return.  Nora pinned it to the front of her dress beneath the neckline as the voice continued.

“Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the atrium.”

Nora gasped as the floor beneath her feet began to move downward.  She quickly realized that the phone box doubled as a secret elevator, especially as soft, golden light crept over her feet and legs and up her body until the box shuddered to a stop and the door swung open.

Mr. Belladonna stepped out, and Nora followed, her jaw hitting the floor.

“This is so cool!” she whispered, looking around the huge, dark-paneled room with the shifting patterns on the ceiling, the organized fireplaces lining the walls, and the huge golden and ivory fountain in the center of the room, the sculptures above the pool showing a wizard and a Faunus woman shaking hands surrounded by a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.

Mr. Belladonna let her look around for a minute before he started across the room towards the security desk.

“I’m escorting a visitor,” Mr. Belladonna explained.  The security guard beckoned her over, looking very bored.

Nora stepped up to the side of the desk, and the wizard waved a wand over her clothing before pulling out a contraption that looked like a small scale for weighing produce.  “Wand,” he grunted.

Nora placed her wand on the plate and the machine buzzed and vibrated for several seconds before a piece of parchment printed out of a small slot at its base.  The guard snatched the paper before it had even finished printing, tearing a corner, and read it aloud. “Twelve inches, dragon heartstring core, aspen, used for four years?” he rattled off.

“Yes,” Nora said.

He slammed the piece of paper onto a spike on his desk, which already had a few other slips impaled upon it.  “Take your wand.”

Nora grabbed her wand and followed Mr. Belladonna to a hallway packed with people and lined on both sides with elevators.

“How’s it going, Ghira?” a young man carrying a large, shaking box said.

“It’s been fine, Robert.  What do you have there? Need a hand?”

“Nah, it’s...it’s a chicken.  It breathes fire. What do you expect, people breeding things they shouldn’t is a daily occurance.  This your daughter?”

“No, just a volunteer case,” Mr. Belladonna said.  “They’re really cracking down on underage magic usage these days.”

“Unfortunate, unfortunate,” the man clucked.  “Well, I say that, but everyone does it. Just terrible you got caught is all.  Hope the hearing goes well. I have to say, I think you got the best defense in the entire building,” the man said.

They rode even further underground until they reached level two, and Ghira lead her across the floor through a maze of offices and cubicles.

The fact that they passed windows in the hallways caught Nora off guard.  “We went down, right?”

“Those are just for decoration,” Mr. Belladonna explained.  “They’re enchanted. It makes it a little nicer in here.”

They walked past the Aurors’ portion of the office before they reached the Faunus-Human Relations Division, which appeared to only have three other staff members, one of which was Sienna Khan, a woman who looked to be part Fennec Fox who wrote furiously on a piece of parchment.

“Hello, Ghira,” she muttered as they walked past.  Nora recognized her from the newspapers.

Mr. Belladonna sat next to her in his own cubicle, which had an extra chair and a small bookshelf.  A picture of his family sat on the desk next to a few rewards he’d received for his work with the law and Faunus rights.

He picked up a note that had been left on his desk and sighed.  “Another boycott,” he murmured.

A few moments after Mr. Belladonna had sat down and began to prepare his work, Taiyang appeared at the door to the cubicle.

“Ghira, hey--I heard someone talking about a hearing for a kid you were doing.  Something about a recent change of venue?” He said all this casually, as if they almost never spoke.  “Anyway, it’s now at 8 in courtroom 10.” He looked at Nora and grinned. “Good luck, kiddo.”

“It’s--why?  Thank you, Taiyang, nice of you to tell me.”  Mr. Belladonna stood up and buttoned his suit jacket.  “We need to go now.” His voice had hardened slightly. “We should have been there five minutes ago,” he muttered as he lead her across the floor.  “I don’t know what they’re getting at, but this is recourse for getting you a new hearing from scratch if this doesn’t go well. We should have been informed of any changes at least a day in advance, this is manipulative to pull this on you at the last minute.”

He pushed the button on the elevator with more force than was strictly necessary.  A few seconds later, one arrived.

“These courtrooms went out of use years ago,” Mr. Belladonna muttered, still quietly stewing.

The elevator stopped and two people in black robes got on.  Mr. Belladonna didn’t say another word until the elevator reached a floor without an announced level--simply the Department of Mysteries.

They stepped out ahead of the others in the elevator and into an empty, featureless hallway with one black door at the end.  At least, that’s all Nora assumed was in the hallway until Mr. Belladonna took a sudden, sharp right just before the door and jogged down a flight of steps, Nora only able to keep up with him because she’d worn sneakers instead of any kind of dress shoe.

The next hallway was stone, lit by torches, and smelled musty and unused.  Their footsteps echoed as they ran past locked, numbered doors. 

“Ten,” Mr. Belladonna said.  He smiled at Nora. “You’ll do well.  I’ll handle the paperwork if anything happens.  Don’t worry, you will go back to Hogwarts in the fall.”

“You can’t come in?”  Nora felt an extra bolt of panic shoot through her chest.  All this time, she’d been counting on Mr. Belladonna’s support.  And now she didn’t have that.

“I’m afraid not.  But don’t worry. Should anything happen, I will be there to take it as far as it needs to go.”

 

Nora stepped into a huge, empty courtroom.  She felt as small and as insignificant as an ant as she looked up to see three rows of wizards in maroon robes with embroidered ‘W’s on the breasts stare coldly down at her from the elevated platforms on which they sat.  

“You’re late,” the man at the center said, the one that looked most important.  Nora thought he might be the Minister of Magic. “Well? Sit.”

Nora hurried to the chair in the center of the room.  It had manacles on the arms and legs, and she flinched as she sat, slowly loosening up as the bindings didn’t immediately snap into place.  Instead, they stayed open.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know the time had changed,” Nora said, trying to sound actually, genuinely sorry like she’d been advised.

“That is not the Wizengamot’s fault,” the Minister of Magic said.  “Well, now that the accused is present, shall we begin?”

He looked around at the other wizards, some of which nodded.

A Faunus woman with rabbit ears took notes as the Minister spoke.

“Disciplinary hearing of the twelfth of August into offenses committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Statute of Secrecy by Miss Nora Valkyrie, resident of Saint Jerome’s Children’s Home in Kensington.  Interrogators: Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister; Court Scribe, Velvet Scarlatina.”

“And the witness for the Defense will be Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry,” a voice said from the door through which Nora had entered.  She spun around to see Professor Ozpin, in his usual green robes, standing before the door. His footsteps echoed as walked over and stood next to Nora’s seat.

Fudge’s face began to go red.  “So you--received--er,--our message about the time change,” he stuttered out.

“I’m afraid not.  However, the fact that the full Wizengamot has been convened to try a student for the use of underage magic has not gone unnoticed by most of the Ministry.”

“Well, now that you’re here, let’s continue.  The charges.” Fudge pulled out a parchment and read from it.  “The charges against the accused are as follows: That she did knowingly, deliberately, and in full awareness of the illegality of her actions, produce a Patronus charm in a Muggle-inhabited area in the presence of a Muggle, on August second at forty eight minutes past nine, which constitutes and offense under Paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Sorcery, 1845, and also under section thirteen of the International Confederation of Wizards’ Statute of Secrecy.”

Fudge glared at Nora.  “You are Nora Valkyrie, of Saint Jerome’s Children's Home, Kensington?”

“Yes.”

“You conjured a Patronus on the night of August second?”

“Yes.”

“Knowing that you are not allowed to use magic outside of school while you are under the age of seventeen?”

“Yes, but--”

“Knowing that you were in an area full of Muggles?”

“Yes.”

“Knowing that you were in close proximity to a Muggle at that time?”

“Yes, but it--”

The witch to Fudge’s left cut her off.  “You produced a fully-fledged Patronus at age fifteen?”

“Yes.”  Nora could barely keep her frustration at not being able to tell her side of the story out of her voice.

“A corporeal Patronus?”

“If you mean, did it look like something?  Yeah, it looks like a winged horse. It’s always a winged horse.”

“Always?”  The woman’s eyebrows climbed her forehead.  “You’ve produced Patronuses before?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“For how long?”

“About a year and a half.”

“You’re fifteen years old?”

“Yes.”

“And you learned this in school?”

“Professor Xiao Long taught me.”

She nodded, slight approval creeping into her voice.  “Very impressive.”

Fudge’s voice, however, only contained more anger and annoyance.  “It’s worse if it’s more impressive, given she did it in front of a Muggle!” he snapped.

“Yes, because if I didn’t, this girl with a heart condition would have died from a Dementor attack!  And she was only five! She’ll think it’s all a dream anyway, so what does it matter?”

Nora regretted her impulsive decision to snap back immediately.  Her face reddened and her eyes began to water. She’d blown it, oh, she’d blown it, she’d never go back to Hogwarts…

“Dementors?” the woman asked.  “I think you need to explain a little more, dear.”

“I was walking Victoria back from the nurse’s and two Dementors attacked,” Nora said sheepishly.  She looked up, a bit of her confidence coming back. “And if I had to do it all over again, I would still cast the Patronus to get her out safely.”

“Quiet, girl.  You’re not helping your case,” Fudge snapped.  “I thought we’d be hearing about your little Dementors.  You’ve done some research at school, I imagine, so you know what they can do.  So you decide you’re going to impress your little friend, give her the experience of a lifetime, and you come up with this convenient little story to explain it all away.”

The court muttered again, and tears of frustration came to Nora’s eyes.  “I’m not lying,” she protested weakly, knowing how it sounded.

“Fine.  For a moment, let’s pretend you are telling the truth,” Fudge said.  “Why would Dementors just be wandering around a Muggle summer camp?”

“The Dementors were not there by coincidence,” Ozpin said quietly.

“What are you implying, Ozpin?”  Fudge’s eyes narrowed.

“Dementors have incredibly limited free will.  They would not wander away from a food source such as Azkaban on their own.  Therefore, they must have been ordered to the camp.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Professor.  There would be records of such a thing!  You know that the Dementors’ movements are closely monitored!”

“Then you must look and see where monitoring is permitted not to occur, or who could obfuscate such a process.”

The woman to Fudge’s left let out a slight laugh.  Fudge spoke up. “The court recognizes Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister.”

“I’m afraid I misheard you, Professor Ozpin!  But did you mean to imply that someone in the Ministry would have ordered an attack on an innocent student?”

Nora wanted to laugh herself at the woman’s voice.  She sounded like the host of a children’s show, not a woman who would appear to try a child in court.  

“If all Dementors are truly under Ministry control, then the idea that the Dementors were under orders to attack Miss Valkyrie makes sense,” Ozpin said.  “The other possibility, of course, is the idea that not all Dementors are under Ministry control, and that some lapse in oversight may have caused two to go rogue.”

“For the last time, Ozpin, there are no Dementors outside Ministry control!” Fudge boomed.

“Then I suppose an investigation is in order.”

“You have no power here to determine the Ministry’s course of action.”

“I understand that.”

“Now, the matter at hand is the fact that Nora Valkyrie violated the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, not whether or not Dementors could have possibly been present, unsanctioned, in a Muggle-populated area,” Fudge said, glancing at the court around them, “and it would be best for all of us, I think, if we remained focused on that.”

“The Dementors are relevant, Cornelius.  Clause Seven of the Decree states that magic may be performed in the presence of Muggles under exceptional circumstances, in which the dire consequences, including loss of life from present wizards or Muggles, would be greater should magic not have been used.”

“We know Clause Seven, Ozpin.”

“A Dementor attack would constitute those extraordinary circumstances.”

“If there were Dementors, it would.  But there weren’t, as I have said numerous times.  Nothing unusual occurred that night, except for Miss Valkyrie’s actions!”

“In fact, everything occurring here today seems highly unusual,” Professor Ozpin countered.  “I suppose the convening the entire Wizengamot would be appropriate to investigate abnormal Dementor presence in Muggle areas, but you deny the presence of the Dementors to focus wholeheartedly on Miss Valkyrie’s act of self-defense?  Is this some sort of new initiative to prevent miscarriages of justice in juvenile cases?”

“Miscarriages of justice?  You don’t get to speak about miscarriages of justice, Ozpin!  If I recall, this girl could have released a savage Basilisk into the school and you gave her a medal!  If I were you, her wand would have been snapped and she would be sent to Azkaban, her age be damned!”

Nora felt frozen in her chair as the adults shouted over her.

“Nora’s behavior at school has no bearing on this hearing, Cornelius, as I reminded you on August second.  The Ministry has no jurisdiction over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which means that you cannot expel her.  You also cannot snap her wand until she has been proven guilty, as you well know, yet you decided to threaten her anyway. This lead Nora to put her own life in danger as she sought refuge after the only consistent home she has ever known was apparently taken away from her without recourse.  I believe now would be the time to tread more carefully, not to act more rashly.” Professor Ozpin gave his short speech sounding totally detached, as if he didn’t know Nora and was only reciting facts he’d read in a textbook somewhere.

“We have been in here for at least twenty minutes longer than we should have, considering that Miss Valkyrie performed magic in order to save herself and a small child from danger.  Even if the fact that she was in danger is disputed, the Muggle who witnessed the display was young and ill. The adults around her will believe she’s making up a fantasy, as young children often do.  Really, there is no need to be here right now.” 

Cornelius Fudge glared down at Professor Ozpin as the headmaster continued to speak, but some of the others didn’t seem so opposed to the argument he’d been making.

The wizards at the front of the room turned to each other and whispered, speaking amongst themselves so neither Nora nor Professor Ozpin could hear.  Nora had thought that this would have lasted longer, to be honest. She wondered how these things normally happened, because Professor Ozpin had said that none of this was normal.

She looked over at Professor Ozpin, but he stared straight ahead as if in deep concentration.

One voice carried above the whispers, and they fell silent immediately.  “All in favor of clearing all charges?” the first witch to have spoken in the trial said.

Nora felt her hands shake.  She couldn’t look.

“And all in favor of conviction?”

Another moment of silence.

“Fine,” Fudge growled.  “Cleared of all charges.”

Nora gasped and looked up.  She couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across her face as she slumped in relief.  She raised both fists above her head in a victory gesture, which only deepened Fudge’s scowl.

Professor Ozpin walked out without a word to Nora.

Nora watched the Wizengamot begin to pack their things.

“So, can I go?” she called up at them.  A few glared at her. Fudge made it a point to totally and thoroughly ignore her.

“I guess I’ll go, then,” she muttered, standing, and walking out the heavy door through which she’d come.

“What happened?” Mr. Belladonna asked.  He looked anxious.

“Cleared,” Nora said, jumping in the air.  “I’m cleared! I can’t wait to tell Ren!” Then she realized something.  “Professor Ozpin didn’t say anything on his way out?”

Nora shook her head.  They stood to the side as the Wizengamot began to file out of the courtroom.  About half of the members greeted Mr. Belladonna as they passed. Once the hallway was empty, Mr. Belladonna turned to Nora, looking surprised.

“You were tried by the full Wizengamot?” he whispered.

“Sounded like it.”

“That’s highly unusual.”

“That’s what Professor Ozpin said too.”

They started up the stairs.  Nora felt as light as air and had to resist the temptation to jump up them and yell in delight.  It was a good thing she held her impulses in check, because as they approached the top of the stairs, they saw Fudge talking to a rail-thin white-haired man.

“It appears we have Hogwarts’ resident prodigy and Ghira Belladonna,” the man said, in a voice that just reeked of high-society prejudices.  He turned back to the Minister. “That explains everything.”

“What are you doing here, Jacques?” Mr. Belladonna said.

“None of your business.  Now, shall we go up to your office, Cornelius? You’ve still got that lovely bourbon, I assume?” he asked the Minister.

“Of course,” Fudge said.  An elevator arrived, and they stepped into it without another word.

Nora stepped forward to join them, but Mr. Belladonna put a hand on her shoulder.  After the door closed, he muttered, “We’ll just get another one.”

“What were they doing?” Nora whispered once their own elevator arrived and the doors had closed.  “Who was that?”

“Jacques Schnee,” Mr. Belladonna grunted.  “He’s got friends in all the right places. But that’s neither here nor there right now.”  His tone brightened. “I think we should head home for lunch. Everyone’s going to want to celebrate with you.”

Nora skipped through the empty atrium on her way back through.


	5. Summer Celebrations

“You did it!  You’re going back to Hogwarts!” Yang cheered when Nora told them the news over lunch.

“That’s awesome!” Ruby agreed.

“What are you talking about?” Blake said.  “We all knew they didn’t have a case.”

“They thought they did, though,” Nora said.  “The entire Wizengamot was there.”

“That’s insane.  It’s not like you murdered anyone!”

“Well, she sure made that Dementor wish it was dead!” Yang said with a corny smile.

Across the table, the adults were talking about whom they’d run into on their way out of the Ministry.  

“Jacques Schnee was talking to Fudge after the trial.  Considering he doesn’t work anywhere near the basement courtrooms, I think he was attempting to sneak in and see the verdict,” Mr. Belladonna told the others.

“This is deeply worrying, Ghira,” his wife said.  “This entire matter reeks of corruption. We’re going to need to keep an eye within the courts.  Perhaps I’ll start practicing again once the house is set up.” She sighed. “If only Ozpin were still on the Wizengamot.”

Soon, lunch was over.  Mr. Belladonna left for work and the girls were tasked with clearing the table.

“I hope Professor Ozpin can come by and celebrate,” Ruby said as they took piles of plates to the kitchen sink, where Mrs. Belladonna washed them with magic before zipping them back into their cabinets with a flick of her wand.  As Ruby walked back by Nora, who was passing into the kitchen, she whispered, “I think my dad’s making cookies!”

“Actually, when I saw Ozpin at the trial, it was...weird,” Nora explained as she gathered the silverware.  “He talked about me, but he didn’t talk to me. It was like I wasn’t there.”

“That is weird,” Yang agreed as she wiped the table with a cloth.  “He’s aloof, but not that aloof. Like he’d at least say hi.”

“It’s not weird at all, considering how often we’ve actually seen him this summer,” Blake argued.  “He’s come what, five times when we were actually around? He never stays to say hi or anything? Whatever’s going on, there has to be a reason.”

 

Nora anticipated this school year more than ever now that she knew for certain she was going back to Hogwarts.  She felt a little bad for wanting to go back, but even at Grimmauld Place, she didn’t feel like she had a home. Every time she caught a glimpse of Yang and Ruby laughing with their dad, or Blake having an earnest conversation with her parents, she felt out of place and just wished she could see Ren.  At Hogwarts, everything she cared about was in one place. She never needed to feel alone. She felt like she had a future.

Here, she just felt...extra.  

She wrote to Ren every day, and he wrote back.

It didn’t feel like enough.

She could smile and laugh like nothing was wrong, but her heart just wasn’t in it.

 

Yang’s birthday came about near the end of summer. 

Nora hadn’t had enough money to get her a gift, but that was all right.  For one day, the girls were released from their chores and spent the day just hanging around, playing games, and talking.  Mr. Xiao Long took the day off, and they went to get ice cream after lunch at a Muggle ice cream shop.

That evening, they had a small party with cake and pizza and soda, and many members of the Order attended.  Overall, it was a very fun time, as Mr. Xiao Long and Ruby told embarrassing stories of Yang’s childhood and she tormented her sister in return by tickling her and beating her at wizard chess (which Ruby never won anyway).

At the end of the party, Yang received a bunch of little gifts from her friends and family.  Blake got her a calendar which displayed highlights from history’s best Quidditch games for every month.  Blake’s parents gave Yang a book about the history of dueling. Ruby gave her a huge bag of chocolate from Honeydukes.

But Yang’s biggest gift came from her father.  

“Oh my god!” Yang shouted when she saw the large package, jumping to her feet. She ran over to Taiyang and hugged him tightly before he could even hand her the gift wrapped in brown butcher paper.

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down before taking the package and tearing the paper off to reveal a new broom.

“It’s nothing too fancy, just one of the recent Cleansweeps,” her father said.  But he smiled too, and so did Ruby.

“Thank you so much!” Yang repeated, and hugged her family again.

 

Their booklists arrived on the last day before school began.  Yang sighed dramatically when Ruby tossed her letter at her.

“I thought they weren’t going to make us do any work this year!” Yang protested, but broke the wax seal anyway and peeked at the contents inside.

“In your dreams, Yang,” Ruby said as she scanned over her own supply list.

Blake just sat there, staring at her letter with wide eyes.

“What is it?” Yang asked. “Did they send you the wrong letter?  Kick you out?”

“No, no.  Everything’s fine,” Blake said, then she looked up and smiled.  “I’m a Prefect!” she exclaimed, holding up the red and gold badge.  

“Really?” Yang said.  “That’s great!”

“Congrats, Blake!” Ruby chimed in.

“That’s awesome,” Nora agreed, looking down at her list.  Instead of thinking about work or Prefect selection when she’d gotten her letter, she’d calculated how much her books would cost and if she’d have money left over from her supply allowance from Hogwarts for anything extra.

“I’m gonna go tell Mom,” she said, and ran out of the room.

The other girls looked at each other.  “Kinda thought it was gonna be you, Ruby,” Yang said.

Ruby shrugged.  “Good for Blake, though.  She studies really hard.”

Ruby didn’t exactly sound convinced.

“Well, at least we know Ozpin hasn’t completely lost his mind,” Yang continued.  “He’d have to have been insane to choose Nora or I.”

 

That evening, the Belladonnas hosted a small party for the Order to celebrate Blake being a Prefect and going back to school.  Once the kids had finished packing, they’d come into the kitchen to find that the table had been spread with party food and that Order members, including Coco, Sun, and Neptune, were already trickling in.

“I’m pretty sure it’s just a Boggart,” Taiyang was saying, but Mrs. Belladonna shook her head.  “Considering some of the other things I’ve found while cleaning this house? You don’t just go poking your head into rattling things around here, Taiyang.”

“She’s right,” Qrow said, tipping his bottle of beer in their direction.  “Who knows, you might uncover a naked House Elf. Surprised me the first time too.”

Mad-Eye Moody hobbled in as they helped themselves to some food.

“Hey, Mad-Eye.  What’s in that desk upstairs?” Qrow demanded.

Mad-Eye paused, and his eye swiveled in its socket until it pointed up and into the back of his head.  “Drawing room?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a Boggart, all right.  Want me to deal with it?”

“We got it, Mad-Eye.  Thanks,” Taiyang said.

“So what’s the fuss about?” he asked the room at large.  “Are you that excited to get rid of the children?”

“Blake’s been selected as a Prefect,” Mr. Belladonna explained, putting one giant hand on his blushing daughter’s shoulder.

“Prefect, eh?” Moody said, his piercing eyes both focusing on Blake for a moment.  “Ozpin must think you’ve got the creativity and resilience for dealing with the troublemakers.  Authority figures always attract trouble. Stay on your guard, girl, and be vigilant!” he snapped.

“Yes, sir,” Blake said.  She looked taken aback.

“And congratulations.”

Blake was saved from having to respond to that one with the sound of metal clinking against glass.  Yang stood on top of a chair, holding a bottle of soda and a spoon. “A toast,” she announced, “to Blake Belladonna, Prefect, and the smartest of us all!”

Blake blushed as everyone raised their glasses to her.  As the talking began again, Yang jumped off her chair and headed over to them, as Coco came up beside her.  “Hey, congrats,” Coco said. “You’re gonna rock this gig.”

“Thanks,” Blake said.

“You’ll get a lot of shit, doesn’t mean you have to take it.”

Meanwhile, Ruby was talking to her uncle.

“Are you kidding me?  I could never have been a Prefect,” he said.  

“Qrow always figured half of the stuff at Hogwarts was optional,” Taiyang said.  “And that the teachers were lying when they said something was forbidden.”

“Case in point: I exploded a bunch of cauldrons in my seventh year.”

“Why?” Ruby said.

“They were ruined and getting rid of them anyway.  I just got it done faster.”

Nora spoke with Neptune about working at the Ministry and to Sun about working at Gringotts.  She overheard Mr. Belladonna talking to Mr. Xiao Long as the evening progressed, but tried not to show that she’d heard.

“Why wouldn’t they have chosen Ruby?” Mr. Belladonna wondered.  “It would be exactly the kind of statement that would subtly convey Ozpin’s convictions regarding the return of the Salem cult.  Not to say that I’m not thrilled Blake was chosen, but why?” he added quickly.

“Ozpin always has his reasons,” Qrow said disdainfully.

“Well, I’m going to go take care of the Boggart,” Mrs. Belladonna said as the party wound down.  “Once that’s done, I’m going to need help getting this place cleaned up.”

“But Mom!” Blake protested.

Nora decided to play around with them.  She raised one hand. “I volunteer as tribute.”

Mrs. Belladonna wrapped an arm around Nora’s shoulders, pulling her close.  “See who my favorite daughter is now!”


	6. The Hogwarts Express

Nora was first up the next morning and couldn’t wait to get going.  Every spare minute people wasted grabbing last-minute forgotten items from around the house, trying to get the painting in the hall to shut up, making sure Kreacher hadn’t stolen anything, and gathering up the Order members felt like an eternity.  Nora was practically crawling out of her skin.

“What is taking so long?” Nora complained as she bounced on her toes.  “Why do we need half the Order anyway?”

“The Salem cult thinks I’m special because I have silver eyes,” Ruby explained.  “They’re not wrong...some weird things have happened...but it’s tiresome and boring anyway.  Like they’d just jump us in the middle of a Muggle train station!”

“What’s gotten into you, Nora?” Blake asked as she shoved another novel into her bag and struggled to close it.  

“I can see Ren again!” she blurted out, and felt immediately embarrassed.  “I mean, we’ve known each other since forever, and he’s my closest friend,” she added quietly.  “It’s been weird being hidden away without him and not being able to say anything in my letters.”

“Time to go!” Taiyang shouted up the stairs, and the girls grabbed the last of their things before running down the stairs. 

“Coming!” Ruby shouted back.

The Belladonnas, Taiyang, Coco, and Mad-Eye stood on the porch.  Qrow stood inside the door and watched them. His expression looked flat.

“Hey, kiddos, get over here,” he said, and gave Ruby and Yang each a hug, patted Blake on the back, and gave Nora a fistbump.  He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

As the door shut behind Nora, she saw Qrow take a long drink from his flask and she felt herself shudder.

Drugs of any kind made her uncomfortable.

Qrow’s frequent drinking deeply unsettled her.

Mad-Eye drove the luggage to the train station in a small station wagon he’d managed to procure from somewhere, while the rest of the group walked.  It took about twenty minutes, and the fair weather had everyone in good spirits.

“I hope the new Defense teacher this year is cool,” Ruby said.  

“As cool as I was?” Mr. Xiao Long replied.

“Eh.  Cooler.”

They met Mad-Eye Moody, dressed as a porter with a cap pulled low over his eyes, pulling a cart with their luggage on it right on the other side of the magical barrier concealing Platform 9 ¾ from prying Muggle eyes.

“We’re clear,” he whispered as Taiyang pretended to struggle to find money to tip him.  “No trouble on your end?”

“Nope, got here just fine. I’m just glad it didn’t rain before we got the kids on the train,” Taiyang replied.  He handed a few coins to Mad-Eye. “Take care, sir.”

Mad-Eye gave him a stiff nod and looked at the kids.  “Don’t put it into writing if you don’t want it read or intercepted, and make sure you keep switching owls if you have any correspondence with an Order member,” Mad-Eye told them.

Coco gave them all hugs and adjusted her sunglasses.  “Have a great year, guys. I’d tell you to stay out of trouble, but I figure you wouldn’t listen anyway.”

The train let out a warning whistle and the girls ran to get on.  

“Don’t be late!” Mrs. Belladonna yelled after them, even though they would be fine.

“There might still be an open compartment somewhere,” Nora said as they pushed their way through the crowded train.

“Actually guys,” Blake said, “I have to go to the prefect carriage.  But I might see you later.” She headed in the opposite direction. Ruby, Nora, and Yang found Jaune’s compartment and joined him inside.  He looked much better than he had at the end of the previous year. Pyrrha’s death had deeply impacted him.

Once the train started moving and almost everyone had settled in, Nora stowed her things and stood up.  “I’m gonna go find Ren,” she announced, then set off. She walked up and down the train, heading in both directions and checking every compartment.  The longer she went without seeing her best friend, the more worried she became. By the time she arrived back at the compartment with her friends, the compartment she’d started with, she felt almost sick with anxiety and fear.

Had Ren not made it on the train?

Had something else happened to him?

Had he been in an accident?

Had he just...not been allowed to come to Hogwarts?

Had the home gotten the days wrong?

Was he hurt?

Was he dying?

Should she have sent a letter the previous day?  She’d been all caught up in celebrating Blake becoming a Prefect and packing and getting her books and everything that she’d just let it slip, thinking that it wouldn’t be a big deal and that she’d just see Ren on the train.

Well, as far as she could ascertain, Ren wasn’t on the train.

Ren wasn’t on the train.

Nora took a deep breath and pulled open the door to the compartment.

“I can’t find Ren,” she said, and her voice sounded so small and childlike that Nora was ashamed of herself.

The other three looked up from the magazine they’d been passing around the compartment.

“He’s got to be here somewhere, Nora,” Yang said.  “Maybe you just missed him. He could be in the bathroom or something.”

“The food cart will be here soon,” Jaune added.  “Eat something, then look again. People are still moving around right now.  In a little while, everyone will have a place to sit, and then you’ll be more likely to find Ren.”

Nora nodded at them, forcing herself to believe that Ren was on the train, that he’d be fine, and that she’d just missed him.  “Yeah, right. He’s probably in the bathroom,” she said, and sat on the bench next to Yang.

 

Each Prefect had a time to patrol part of the train, and the Gryffindors had drawn the short straw: they’d be going first.  

Blake’s job involved going to each compartment in the back half of the train and peeking inside to make sure nothing untoward was happening.  And so far, most of the compartments had been filled with sleepy people who’d been woken up too early for the train, friends catching up after long summers apart, and timid first years.

Blake slid the next compartment door open and got a face full of stinking, green, sticky gunk that had exploded everywhere.  She wiped her face with the back of her hand and glared at the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs within. The goo had apparently come from a small, ugly plant one furiously-blushing kid held out in the center of the car.

“I’m so sorry,” the kid pleaded.  “I didn’t know it’d do that!”

“What even was that?”

“Stinksap!  But it’s not poisonous!  Please don’t get me in trouble, it was a gift from my grandma!” the kid begged.

Blake sighed.  It was too early for this.  “Get it cleaned up by the time the next Prefect comes around and don’t do it again.”

She slammed the compartment door and spun around to see Ilia Amitola standing behind her.  She raised one freckled hand to her lips to hide her giggle at the gunk-covered Blake. “Let me get that for you,” she said, and waved her wand.  “Scourgify.”

The mess vanished.  “Thanks,” Blake said.

“No problem,” Ilia said.  “Congratulations on becoming a Prefect, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“See you around.”

“You too.”

Ilia walked past her and Blake watched her go.

 

One of the Prefects opened their door for the periodic check.

Nora spun around at the sound.

Ren stood in the doorway to their compartment, already dressed in his school robes.

Nora jumped up and hugged him, catching Ren off-guard and causing him to accidentally tumble into the hallway outside the compartment.

“Nora!” Ren exclaimed as he picked himself up and gave her a proper hug in the doorway before he held her at arms’ length.  “You’re absolutely insane.”

“Uh, yeah.  Can’t say I’ve made the most rational choices of my life this summer.”

Ren smiled and hugged her again.  “I missed you,” he said. “It was lonely.”

“I missed you too.”  She moved her face close to his ear.  “I’ll tell you everything later.”

“I’m so glad you’re safe.  You had no idea what it was like after you just vanished,” Ren explained.  “Everyone panicked. The camp had to send everyone home. Police were everywhere.”

“Oh, Ren,” Nora whispered.  She knew Ren didn’t feel comfortable around the police.  She reached out a hand to touch the badge on his chest. “You’re a Prefect!”

“Apparently so.”  Ren tried to hide his pride, but it was obvious.  “Anyway, I’ll come back after I’m done checking the rest of the train.  Blake’s the other Prefect--”

“We know,” Nora interrupted, practically pushing him out the door.  “Now check the train and get your butt back here!”

 

Finally, both Blake and Ren returned to the compartment and the proper catching-up (as limited as it could be on the train when top-secret matters needed to be discussed) began.

“Each House has two Prefects, a boy and a girl,” Blake explained.  “Ren and I are the Gryffindor Prefects, Weiss Schnee and Cardin Winchester are the Slytherin Prefects--”

“Of course,” Jaune groaned.

“--Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott are the Hufflepuff Prefects, and Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw,” Blake finished.

“It doesn’t sound too bad,” Ruby said.  “Most of those people aren’t power-hungry crazies.”

“Keyword being ‘most’,” Yang pointed out.  “Cardin, definitely. Be prepared to get points docked for just breathing the same air he does.”

As the others bickered about whether or not Cardin Winchester was the right choice for a Slytherin Prefect, the magazine on Jaune’s lap caught Blake’s eye.  “What are you reading?”

“Huh?  This?” He indicated the magazine, and Blake nodded.  “I picked it up when I was shopping for my school supplies.  I can’t tell if it’s satire, or if whoever wrote this stuff actually believes it.”

“Is it the Quibbler?” 

“Yup.”

“They believe it.”

 

When they arrived at the Hogsmeade station, something had changed.  For one, Hagrid’s booming voice wasn’t carrying over the crowd to gather all the first-years into boats to sail across the lake, but that was immaterial to Ruby.

No, the bigger change was that the horseless carriages they’d ridden back to Hogwarts since their second year now had horses.  And the horses, quite frankly, were terrifying. They didn’t have skin, except for the bit that covered their leathery, black wings.  Their bones and innards were exposed to the elements. Their eyes looked like cataract-covered marbles, and Ruby couldn’t tell if the horses were all blind, or if their eyes worked just fine like that.  

Ruby stopped in her tracks.

“What are those horse-things?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Yang asked.  

“The carriages!  They have horses now!”  Ruby pointed in their direction.  “Look!”

“There aren’t any horses there, Ruby.”  Yang sounded genuinely concerned now.

“But there have always been horses there,” Ren said, looking at Yang with genuine confusion.

Yang squinted through the rain at the carriages.  “I do not see any horses. Are you guys messing with me?  Blake, do you see any horses?”

“No.” Blake also sounded confused.

“But there are horses there,” Nora said.

“I don’t see any horses,” Jaune volunteered.

Ruby felt embarrassed for looking insane and also causing all her friends to start arguing.  “It doesn’t matter if there are horses or not,” she said. “If we don’t get in one of the carriages soon, we’re gonna have to walk back to Hogwarts.”

“We can ask Professor Grubbly-Plank about the horses when we get back to Hogwarts,” Nora said quietly. 

“I wonder where Hagrid is,” Ren said.

They split up and grabbed the last few available seats on the carriages, and headed back to the castle.

Ruby couldn’t help but watch the strange horse-creatures gallop past the carriage window as they pulled the other carriages towards the castle.


	7. The Welcome Feast

Nora and Ren walked towards the Gryffindor table together, scanning the staff table above as they walked.

“Hagrid isn’t there,” Nora said, her disappointment obvious in her tone.

“Wasn’t he on an assignment over the summer for Ozpin?” Ren asked quietly.

“Oh yeah,” Nora said.  Realization dawned on her.  “Maybe he’s just not back yet.”

“I hope that’s the case.”

“Me too,” Nora said, and pointed at the stranger at the staff table, “because that lady in the ugly pink sweater is from the Ministry of Magic.  She was at my hearing. What is she doing here?”

They sat down near their friends, still watching the staff table.  But before they could discuss possibilities as to why someone from the Ministry had seen fit to attend their welcome feast, the Sorting began with the Sorting Hat’s jaunty song, and everyone settled in to listen.

“ _ In times of old when I was new _

_ And Hogwarts barely started _

_ The founders of our noble school _

_ Thought never to be parted: _

_ United by a common goal, _

_ They had the selfsame yearning, _

_ To make the world’s best magic school _

_ And pass along their learning. _

_ ‘Together we will build and teach!’ _

_ The four good friends decided _

_ And never did they dream that they _

_ Might some day be divided, _

_ For were there such friends anywhere _

_ As Slytherin and Gryffindor? _

_ Unless it was the second pair _

_ Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw? _

_ So how could it have gone so wrong? _

_ How could such friendships fail? _

_ Why, I was there and so can tell _

_ The whole sad, sorry tale. _

_ Said Slytherin, ‘We’ll teach just those _

_ Whose ancestry is purest.’ _

_ Said Ravenclaw, ‘We’ll teach those whose _

_ Intelligence is surest.’ _

_ Said Gryffindor, ‘We’ll teach all those _

_ With brave deeds to their name,’ _

_ Said Hufflepuff, ‘I’ll teach the lot, _

_ And treat them just the same.’ _

_ These differences caused little strife _

_ When first they came to light, _

_ For each of the four founders had _

_ A house in which they might _

_ Take only those they wanted, so, _

_ For instance, Slytherin _

_ Took only pure-blood wizards _

_ Of great cunning, just like him, _

_ And only those of sharpest mind _

_ Were taught by Ravenclaw _

_ While the bravest and the boldest _

_ Went to daring Gryffindor. _

_ Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest, _

_ And taught them all she knew, _

_ Thus the houses and their founders _

_ Retained friendships firm and true. _

_ So Hogwarts worked in harmony _

_ For several happy years, _

_ But then discord crept among us _

_ Feeding on our faults and fears. _

_ The houses that, like pillars four, _

_ Had once held up our school, _

_ Now turned upon each other and, _

_ Divided, sought to rule. _

_ And for a while it seemed the school _

_ Must meet an early end, _

_ What with duelling and with fighting _

_ And the clash of friend on friend _

_ And at last there came a morning _

_ When old Slytherin departed _

_ And though the fighting then died out _

_ He left us quite downhearted. _

_ And never since the founders four _

_ Were whittled down to three _

_ Have the houses been united _

_ As they once were meant to be. _

_ And now the Sorting Hat is here _

_ And you all know the score: _

_ I sort you into houses _

_ Because that is what I’m for, _

_ But this year I’ll go further, _

_ Listen closely to my song: _

_ Though condemned I am to split you _

_ Still I worry that it’s wrong, _

_ Though I must fulfil my duty _

_ And must quarter every year _

_ Still I wonder whether Sorting _

_ May not bring the end I fear. _

_ Oh, know the perils, read the signs, _

_ The warning history shows, _

_ For our Hogwarts is in danger _

_ From external, deadly foes _

_ And we must unite inside her _

_ Or we’ll crumble from within _

_ I have told you, I have warned you ... _

_ Let the Sorting now begin.’ _

The Sorting Hat finished its song with a whisper instead of a bellow.  The applause that followed felt muted too. In fact, the entire atmosphere of the welcome feast had developed a sinister chill from the Sorting Hat’s warning.

“That’s creepy,” Yang said.  

“Nick!”  Ren hailed Gryffindor’s ghost over to their part of the table with a wave of his arm.  “Has the Sorting Hat ever given warnings like that before?”

“In times of need, yes,” the ghost agreed, but then raised a finger to his lips as the first of the first year students was called up to the stool and Sorted into Gryffindor.  

The rest of the Sorting went by too slowly, as did Professor Ozpin’s short welcome before the food appeared on the table and Sir Nicholas could continue his explanation.

“Yes, the Hat has given warnings in times of great danger before.  Its advice is always the same: stand together and remain strong from within,” Nicholas said.

“It’s a hat, though,” Jaune said.  “How does it know when there’s danger?”

“I suspect it hears much about the state of our world, living in Professor Ozpin’s office,” Nick guessed.

“Okay, but how can all the Houses be friends if, like, most people think the Slytherins are jerks and most Slytherins think we’re the jerks?” Ruby asked.  

“I daresay you’ll have to set petty rivalries aside and find ways and reasons to communicate meaningfully and develop bonds with those whom you might otherwise disagree with,” Sir Nicholas said.  “For example, although I dislike the Bloody Baron, I would not fight with him and would gladly work with him to ensure the integrity of the school.”

“Fat chance,” Yang snorted.

“No, we have to try,” Blake said.  “If things are bad enough that a hat that never sees the light of day knows what’s going on, we need to start preparing before things get worse.”

“I see Professor Ozpin made a wise choice in choosing this year’s Prefects,” Nick said proudly.  “You’ll do well for Gryffindor House.”

 

Once the conversation picked up again and the platters and bowls of food that had appeared on the huge tables were nearly empty, Professor Ozpin stood and gave his yearly speech covering the basic rules, like not using magic in the corridors and staying out of the Forbidden Forest.

“Finally, we have had two changes to our staff for the upcoming year.  Professor Grubbly-Plank will once again be teaching Care of Magical Creatures, while Professor Umbridge will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

The students applauded politely until they saw the short woman walk around the table to stand next to Ozpin.  “And I suppose Professor Umbridge would like to say a few words.”

He sat down and gave her the floor.

She made a little coughing noise.  Blake’s ears twitched in annoyance.

“Thank you, headmaster, for that kind welcome,” she said in her high-pitched voice.

Blake’s cat ears flattened against her head and for a moment, Ruby thought she’d actually hiss.

“It’s lovely to be back at Hogwarts after so long!  And to see such wonderful little faces smiling up at me!”

For a moment, giggles could be heard in the Great Hall until people realized Umbridge had seriously meant what she’d said.

“I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all!  I hope we’ll get to be very good friends!”

She said this slowly and deliberately, with that same indulging expression.  She cleared her throat again.

Nora slipped a piece of parchment out of her bag and began to keep count of how many times Umbridge cleared her throat in one speech.

“The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of the newest generations of witches and wizards to be of the utmost importance.  The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. These ancient skills must be passed down through the years, lest the wizarding community lose them forever.  Those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching, therefore, have the greatest responsibility within our society to keep these gifts and our traditions alive and ensure that our treasure trove of magical knowledge lives on.”

Nora added another tick mark to her paper when Umbridge paused to smile at the teachers.  Professor Goodwitch’s expression became positively livid once she turned her back again.

“Professor Goodwitch doesn’t like her,” Ruby whispered to Yang.

“How’d she even get hired here?  We’re not a preschool,” her sister replied.

“Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of running such a renowned educational institution, and that is what Hogwarts has needed to avoid stagnation and decay.  Then again, however, we must avoid promoting progress for its own sake, as most traditions require no tinkering to continue to serve us well into the future. A balance, then, is required…”

Most of the students had stopped paying attention by that point.  In fact, most of them didn’t even know the speech had ended until the teachers started to clapping, leading them to join in with halfhearted applause.

Professor Ozpin stood up and continued talking about Quidditch tryouts and other events that would be happening within the next few weeks, but only those who actually were interested in playing Quidditch listened.  The others had grown restless.

“Can we just not have Defense this year?” Jaune asked.  “If that’s how she’s going to teach, I think I’d rather just read a textbook.”

“That’s not the point of that speech,” Blake whispered.

“Then what was the point?”

“To show how the Ministry is going to try and use Ozpin as a shadow puppet!” Blake shot back.  But before she could say anything else, the room suddenly got much louder as Ozpin’s speech ended and everyone began to get up to head back to their Common Rooms.

“First years!  Over here!” Blake called, raising one hand in the air so that the whole table could see her.  Ren followed suit.


	8. Worst First Day

“I had another thought about Hagrid last night,” Ren said as he studied the staff table at breakfast the next morning.  “Perhaps Ozpin doesn’t want to draw any attention to the fact he’s gone.”

“What do you mean by that?” Nora asked as she spread butter and jam on a slice of toast.

“Do you remember Rita Skeeter’s article from last year on Hagrid?”

Nora swallowed a bite of toast and nodded.

“The Ministry, despite claims to the contrary, still highly values blood purity.  Maybe Ozpin was afraid that if that Ministry woman disapproved of him, something bad would happen to Hagrid.”

“Makes sense,” Nora agreed.  “Ozpin’s always looked out for Hagrid.”

 

Ruby, Yang, and Blake ran into Angelina on her way to breakfast.  Angelina was a tall, thin, dark-skinned seventh year who had a passion for Quidditch and a gift for agility with a broom to rival any decent Seeker.  “Ruby!” she exclaimed, and jogged a few steps to fall into line with the other girls. “How was your summer?”

“Pretty good.  How about you?”

“Not bad at all,” she said.  “Look, Goodwitch just promoted me to the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team!” she exclaimed.

“Awesome!” Ruby said.

“Congrats,” Yang said.

“First thing we gotta do is find a new Keeper.  Tryouts are Friday at 5 and the entire team needs to be there so we can make sure that whomever we choose fits in.  Can you do that?”

Ruby nodded.  “Sounds great, Angelina!”

“We’re counting on you!” Angelina called over her shoulder as she pushed through the crowd to catch up with her own friends.

“You know, I might just go for it,” Yang said as they sat down near Ren and Nora at the Gryffindor table.

“You should,” Ruby said, but her heart wasn’t really in it.

Quidditch had always been her thing, the one thing she had to look forward to that only she could touch.  She knew it was immature and silly to think that Yang sharing it with her, being on the same team, would change any of that, but she still felt like she wished Yang wouldn’t try out.  She’d still be the Seeker, even if Yang was a Keeper…

Ruby’s brooding was interrupted by the arrival of their schedules and Yang’s exaggerated groan.

“History of Magic, double Potions, Divination, double Defense Against the Dark Arts!  In that order! It’s practically criminal!” Yang lamented. “Especially since it’s OWL year.”

“Is it really as tough as everyone says it is?” Jaune asked.  “Are they that much harder than normal finals?”

“Well, OWLs determine which NEWTs you can take, which determine which classes you can have and which careers you can go into,” Blake explained.  “So yeah, they’re pretty hard and pretty important.”

“That’s crazy!” Jaune exclaimed, and Ruby had to agree with him.  “How am I supposed to know what I want to do for the rest of my life right now?  I’m fifteen! I barely know which socks I want to wear in the morning!”

“They’re supposed to give us career counseling,” Ren said.

“I’m just annoyed that wizards don’t even have electricity but someone still came up with the idea of standardized testing,” Nora grumbled.  “I thought I’d never have to deal with that again after Muggle school!”

“It still sounds very restrictive,” Ren continued, ignoring Nora’s short rant.  “Interests change, after all.”

Interests change.  It was something they all needed to think about.

 

After History of Magic, the group walked through the courtyard through the dismal drizzle to the other side of the castle, where the dungeons for Potions classes were.

“Hi, Blake!” Ilia called and waved to her.  She crossed the courtyard to join the Gryffindors.

“Hey, Ilia,” Blake said.  “How was your summer?”

Ilia gave a half-shrug.  “Boring. You know how it is.  What about yours?”

“About the same.”  Blake opened her mouth to continue the conversation, but Yang joined her.  

“Why do you have a Tornadoes badge?” she asked Ilia (far too pointedly, in Blake’s opinion).

“I support them?” 

“Just because they’re winning the league?”

“I’ve supported them since I was six,” Ilia answered coldly, then turned and smiled at Blake.  “Well, catch you later.”

“Bye,” Blake answered.  Once Ilia had walked out of earshot, she turned on Yang.  “Seriously. Do you not know when to cool it?”

“What?”  Yang seemed totally oblivious.

“It’s not like Ilia came over here to be interrogated about Quidditch!”

“I just asked her a question!  Why are you mad at me?”

Blake sighed.  “I’m not mad at you.  Just...annoyed. I kinda wanted to talk to her.”

“Oh.  Okay. And I interrupted something,” Yang said.  “Next time, I’ll be like a ghost. Neither of you will hear a thing.”

Blake hoped that next time she wanted to talk to Ilia, nothing would explode, Yang wouldn’t be around, and maybe, just maybe, they could have five minutes of uninterrupted peace to have a conversation.

Yeah, fat chance of that.

 

Professor Oobleck strode into the class and rapped his wand on the desk, bringing the class to order.  “Before we begin today, I would like to remind you all of the consequences of your performance in my class this year.  As you all know, you will be sitting for your OWL examinations in June where every aspect of potion-making that you have studied thus far in your magical careers will be tested and evaluated.  I like to think that I have prepared you well for the exam, but it’s up to you to put everything together.” He paused and surveyed the room.

“Be warned that only the top students will be permitted to proceed to my NEWT-level Potions course.  So if you think you may have aspirations for a career which will require these skills, I urge you not to begin slacking off now.

“So, to set a benchmark for your upcoming exams, we will begin the year with a potion often asked for on the examination, the Draught of Peace which soothes anxiety and agitation.  Properly made, this potion is useful and effective, but if the procedures and methods are not followed, the Draught can kill. Therefore, make sure you pay attention. Instructions will be on the board.”  He waved his wand at the blackboard, and the words appeared. “Begin.”

The potion was incredibly finicky and difficult.  Everything had to be just so, and through the aggregation of errors that often occurred with potions requiring such specificity, most people’s didn’t look like they would work at all, and no one felt particularly calm about their upcoming tests when they lined up labeled flagons of their potions on Professor Oobleck’s desk before cleaning out their cauldrons.

 

Divination didn’t go any better than their previous classes had.  Professor Trelawney greeted them by saying that they would have to sit for the Divination OWL despite its inaccuracy before setting them to reading their textbook on dream interpretation.

Although the reading wasn’t the most interesting--Divination textbooks tended to be full of flowery prose and strange capitalization patterns--it took most of class, so when they actually had to analyze each other’s dreams, they didn’t have to put on the charade for long.

“I don’t remember any of my dreams,” Ruby complained and kicked her chair.

“You have to remember one.  How about pieces of one?” Yang suggested.

So although Salem and Pyrrha often haunted Ruby’s dreams, she told Yang she had one about Quidditch, but that they had flying hats and not brooms.  As she spoke, her sister rifled through the tables of dream elements and scrawled notes about interpretation on her parchment. Once Ruby finished talking, Yang studied her analysis.

“This doesn’t make any sense...fuck it.  You’re going to die a horrible death, oh woe is me!”  Yang tilted her head back and dramatically placed her arm over her forehead.  She placed her arms on the table again. “Now do me.”

Now Ruby had to flip back and forth through a book while Yang told her about having to go shopping in Diagon Alley with a flock of ducks.

“You’re going to suffer a misfortune, something will break.  But you will also win a lot of money and find true love?” Ruby tried.  “Ugh, why are we taking this again?”

“Easy OWL, Ruby, easy OWL.  All we have to do is say what Trelawney wants to hear, and she gives us an O.”

However, Yang’s good spirits had vanished after Professor Trelawney had assigned them a month’s worth of dream journals.

“We have two and a half feet of essays due so far, and it’s only the first day!” she complained.  “Not to mention that journal...What happened to easing in at the beginning of the year?”

“We’re apparently mature now,” Ren said, smiling at her.  “Although some of us are less mature than others.”

“Hey!” Nora protested by sticking her tongue out at Ren.

But their chatting and bickering quieted down until they reached Professor Umbridge’s room.  After all, no one wanted to provoke her until she proved she was the sort of teacher that wouldn’t punish rowdy behavior.

Unfortunately, her speech at the beginning of the year hadn’t given them much hope.

“Good afternoon, class!” she chirped in her high voice once Jaune, the last into the room, had taken his seat.

A few people mumbled a response.

She cleared her throat.  “Now, that won’t do. You should reply, ‘Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge’ when I address you.  Let’s try that again. Good afternoon, class!”

“Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge,” they intoned unhappily.

“There, that wasn’t too difficult, was it?  Now, wands away and quills out, please.” She tapped the board and writing introducing her Defense class appeared, and continued to speak as the students got out the materiels for her lesson.

“Your teaching of this subject has been rather fragmented, hasn’t it?  Unfortunately, your constant rotation of teachers has resulted in you being far behind where you should be in your OWL year.  However, you will be pleased to know that the Ministry-approved curriculum that we have prepared for you should allow you to perform sufficiently well on your Ordinary Wizarding Levels, given that you study and take the coursework seriously.  Now, please copy down the following.”

She tapped the board with her wand, and the following appeared:

_ Course aims: _

_ Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic _

_ Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used _

_ Placing the use of defensive magic within a practical context _

Umbridge waited for them to scribble down the notes on the board before asking her next question.  “Has everyone got a copy of  _ Defensive Magical Theory _ by Wilbert Slinkhard?”

A few people grunted affirmative answers at her.

Umbridge pursed her lips.  “When I ask a question, I would like an answer of ‘Yes, Professor Umbridge’ or ‘No, Professor Umbridge’.  So let’s try that again. Do you all have a copy of  _ Defensive Magical Theory _ by Wilbert Slinkhard?”

“Yes Professor Umbridge,” the class intoned again.

She gave them a saccharine smile.  “Good. Then turn to page five and begin to read ‘Basics for Beginners’.  There is no need to talk.”

Most students opened their books and began to read silently.  A few took notes on parchment.

Several minutes passed before Ruby found the book too tedious to pay attention to.  Her focus drifted around the room.

Blake had her hand raised resolutely.  Her yellow eyes bored a hole through Umbridge, who pretended not to notice the incredible scrutiny of Blake’s gaze.

As the minutes passed, Ruby wasn’t the only one watching Blake with her hand in the air.  Nora attempted to discreetly watch her over doodling on the parchment she was supposed to be taking notes with.  Ren and Jaune were less subtle, just staring at her curiously like she’d grown another head.

Finally, Umbridge couldn’t ignore the fact that most of the class had stopped reading because Blake had raised her hand.  “Did you have a question about the reading, dear?” she asked.

“No,” Blake said.

“Well, we’re reading right now.  If you have a question about anything else, I would be happy to address it after class.”

Blake didn’t back down. “Actually, I want to ask about your course aims.”

Umbridge didn’t seem to have expected this.  “And you are?”

“Blake Belladonna.”

“Well, Miss Belladonna, the course aims are perfectly clear.  Perhaps you should take notes more carefully in the future.”

“But they’re not clear,” Blake answered.  “How are we going to practice using defensive magic?  Isn’t that the point of this class?”

“Unless you’re expecting to be attacked during class--which, due to the experiences with your prior teachers, may seem like a legitimate possibility--you will have no use for defensive magic here.  As for the point of this class, unless you are a Ministry-certified expert in teaching and pedagogy, you do not get to determine that. I can assure you, however, that you will be learning about a wide variety of defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way.”

“Like that’s going to help if we’re ever attacked,” Yang said under her breath, but loudly enough for Umbridge to hear her.

“Hand!” Umbridge snapped at her, then turned her back to Yang as she gave her the stink-eye and thrust her arm in the air.

But Ruby, on the other side of the room, also had her hand in the air.  “And you are?” she asked, gesturing for Ruby to speak.

“Ruby Rose.”

“Well, Miss Rose?”

“It’s like Yang said, though.  Attacks in the real world aren’t risk-free--”

Umbridge gave her a small smile.  “Do you expect to be attacked in my class?”

“Not really, but--”

Umbridge spoke over her.  “I do not wish to criticize Hogwarts in any way, but you have been exposed to many irresponsible teachers and uses of magic in this class in the past.  You’ve been introduced to spells far beyond your age and ability levels. You’ve likely been frightened into expecting to meet Dark wizards around every corner--”

“No we haven’t,” Yang interjected.

“Miss Xiao Long!  I didn’t ask you to speak!” Umbridge admonished.  Yang put her hand in the air again, and once again, Umbridge ignored her.  “It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he performed them on you--”

“Considering that he was actually a Dark wizard--” Nora said.

“Your hand was not raised, Miss Valkyrie!”  Umbridge paused to compose herself. “Now, the opinion of the Ministry is that theory alone is sufficient to allow you to perform well on your exams, which is the entire purpose of this institution.”  She turned to Ren. “And you are?”

“Lie Ren.  Does the test not have a practical portion we’ll need to prepare for?”

“Indeed, Mr. Ren.  But so long as you have studied the theory thoroughly, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled exam conditions.”

“The first time we’ll be doing the spells is on our exam?” Ren asked.

“As I said, as long as you have studied the theory thoroughly--”

“How’s theory supposed to help us in the real world?” Nora asked.

“This is school, Miss Valkyrie, not the real world.”

“So wait,” Yang said, her hand still in the air.  “How are we supposed to be prepared for real attacks then?”

“And what, do you suppose, would like to attack innocent children like you?”

“How about Salem?” Yang asked.

Umbridge’s eyes sharpened.  “Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss Xiao Long.”  She stood and looked over the students with her hawkish gaze.  “Allow me to clear up a few misunderstandings,” she said coldly.  “You have been told that a certain fictional goddess has descended from the heavens--”

“She wasn’t fictional!” Ruby protested.

“Miss Rose, you are only making matters worse for yourself and your fellow students,” Umbridge said without looking at her.  “As I was saying, this goddess is an obvious myth, and as such, cannot have followers, cannot threaten you, and cannot walk this earth.  Anything you hear to the contrary is a lie.”

“It’s not a lie!” Ruby shouted.  “I saw it happen! I fought her!”

“Detention, Miss Rose!”  Umbridge grinned with sadistic satisfaction.  “Tomorrow evening, five o’clock. Now, just to reiterate, what Miss Rose has said is a lie.  The Ministry of Magic can reassure you that no one is in any danger from resurrected gods or other nonsense. If you are still concerned, you can come see me outside of class.  I would certainly appreciate knowing who is spreading these lies. Remember, I am only here to help and to be your friend. You can trust me. Now, we must finish our reading. Please continue “Basics for Beginners”, beginning on page 5.”

She sat down.  But if Umbridge had thought that would be the end of it, she was wrong.

“So Pyrrha dropped dead just because?” Jaune asked from the back of the room, where he stood behind his desk.  His voice shook and his fists were clenched at his sides.

Everyone watched him. 

“Miss Nikos’ death was a tragic accident, Mr--”

“Arc,” Jaune completed.  “And it wasn’t an accident, it was murder!  A Salem cult interefered with the tournament and got her killed, and the Ministry knows it!”

Professor Umbridge smiled serenely at him.  “Mr. Arc, come here.”

Jaune marched up to the front of the room, too upset to do anything else.  

Everyone watched as she took a piece of parchment and wrote something on it.  She rolled up the note and tapped it with her wand to seal the scroll. “Take this to Professor Goodwitch, please.  And Mr. Arc, I expect for you to join Miss Rose in detention tomorrow.”

Jaune didn’t say anything, just opened the door, left, and slammed it shut behind him.

“Well?”  Professor Umbridge said when her students didn’t immediately return to their readings.  “You have your assignment.”

 

“Is this true?” Professor Goodwitch asked Jaune after reading the note.

“Probably,” Jaune muttered.  He didn’t meet her eyes.

“I am going to give you a message for you and your classmates, Jaune, and I expect you to heed it.”

Jaune hadn’t expected this.  “Wait, what?”

“Misbehavior in her class will cost you more than House points and a detention.  I understand that you are facing a great injustice, but there is nothing anyone can do at the moment.  Not I. Not Ozpin. Not anyone in any official capacity, at any rate.” She walked to her office window and looked out of it.

“What do you mean, Professor?”  Jaune was confused. He knew that there was something she was trying to convey, but not saying.

“You and Miss Rose have detention every day this week, correct?”

“Uh, yeah.”  He tried to look ashamed.

The bell rang for the end of classes.  Professor Goodwitch turned back to Jaune and peered over her glasses.  “Well? Are you trying to be late for dinner?”

 

“This is insane,” Yang said as she dumped her bag next to her bed and collapsed onto it.

“What’s insane?” Ruby asked.  She set her own bag down much more gently.

“We’re expected to know spells, but we’re not allowed to do magic, apparently you’re the biggest liar wizards have ever known...how could Ozpin even hire her?  It’s crazy!”

“I don’t think he hired her as much as she was forced upon him,” Nora suggested.  “After all, we might actually learn to think for ourselves if he hired someone.”

“She straight-up asked us to spy on each other,” Blake interjected, “I think it’s pretty clear why she’s here.”

Nora sighed loudly.  “Ugh. Can we just get to work?  All this homework...my bag is so heavy.”

And with that, she pulled out her books and began to get to work.  The others followed suit.


	9. First Week

The only interesting class they had the next day was Care of Magical Creatures, where they looked at Bowtruckles.  However, the Bowtruckles didn’t hold the students’ attention. No, the continued speculation about Hagrid’s absence and the fact that their year’s Slytherin and Gryffindor students were doomed to take Care of Magical Creatures together for all of eternity preoccupied them instead.

The Bowtruckles had been lined up on a long workbench outside Hagrid’s hut on the lawn where the class was normally held.  The students were supposed to pair up to draw the Bowtruckles and label their anatomy, and it was as they walked up to select their specimen and grab some wood lice that Ren and Nora finally got a chance to ask about their friend.

“None of your business,” Professor Grubbly-Plank replied dismissively, scooping out more wood lice into cloth sacks for her next class.  Knowing that further inquiries were pointless, Ren and Nora found a Bowtruckle that no one else had claimed yet. Unfortunately, that Bowtruckle was between to Cardin Winchester and Weiss Schnee’s and Ruby and Jaune’s.

“I hope Hagrid’s okay,” Nora said to Ren in a low tone as she placed wood lice in front of the Bowtruckle.  She opened her sketchbook to an empty page and began to draw haphazardly, too distracted to put real effort into the project.

“Maybe he’s hurt,” Cardin sneered at her.  “Maybe he’s bit off more than he can chew with that huge mouth of his.”

Ren could see Nora starting to get fired up, but before she could say or do anything, Weiss interrupted them.

“Would you stop throwing the lice at it?” she snapped, clearly irritated.  “I want to get this done in class.” Weiss grabbed her book and moved over with Nora and Ren.  Ren had a natural knack with most creatures, and Bowtruckles were no exception. While Nora sketched, his gentle touch and careful temptations with food managed to keep it in one place and upright.

“Not bad for Gryffindors,” Weiss muttered, and squeezed in to finish her sketch.

“You know, even if Hagrid came back, he’d just get sacked right away.  Father says that the Minister’s really begun to take note of how Hogwarts has gone downhill, adopting substandard hiring practices and all that,” Cardin continued.  “If I never see Hagrid again, it’s the happiest ending Hogwarts could have hoped for.”

Nora opened her mouth to respond with equal vitrol, but someone placed their hand on her shoulder.  Jaune, standing next to her, had a cautious look on his face. “It’s not worth it to start a fight, Nora.  Whatever Hagrid’s up to, he has to be okay, otherwise Ozpin would have told us.” A small smile crossed his lips.  “Plus, you’d be doing it in front of three Prefects, and I doubt you want triple detention.”

Nora let out the breath she’d been holding and went back to her sketch.  She shrugged Jaune’s hand off her shoulder. What was that about? Jaune had never had any issues with her telling Cardin off before.

Ren looked pensive for a moment before pointing out two errors Nora had made in her labeling of the Bowtruckle.

As they walked back, Jaune fell into step beside Nora and Ren.  “Sorry about back there,” he said, looking over his shoulder at Professor Grubbly-Plank preparing for the next Care of Magical Creatures lesson.  “But that’s what Goodwitch told me when Umbridge sent me to her office. We need to just keep our heads down as long as she’s here.”

“I hope she’s gone soon and Hagrid comes back,” Nora grumbled, shoving her hands deep into her pockets.

 

Ruby and Jaune walked up to Professor Umbridge’s office for detention together after dinner.  “I hope she doesn’t keep us too long,” Jaune said. “I just want to get this load of homework done.”

“Me too,” Ruby said, then she sighed.  “I’m going to miss the Quidditch tryouts.”

“Are you going to try asking?”

Ruby shrugged.  “I guess I will.  That way, if Angelina asks, I did.  But you know she’s not going to give us the time off.”

“You’re just stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“Yep.”

Their moods were rather somber as they entered the office, which was decorated with a disturbing amount of pink tchotchkes and motifs.  In Jaune’s opinion, it looked like a little old lady’s house, a breast cancer awareness event, and a fundraiser for a kitten shelter had all gotten thrown into a jar, mixed together, and then dumped into the world’s ugliest diorama.

Jaune was shaken out of his survey of the room by Umbridge’s voice.  “Hello, Miss Rose and Mr. Arc.” She gestured to two desks on opposite sides of the small office, which had been set up with white doilies, blank pieces of parchment, and black quills.  No inkwells sat on the tables, however, which Jaune found odd.

Ruby took the seat nearest the window.

Jaune set his bag near the other chair.  

“Um, Professor Umbridge, can I ask you a question?” Ruby said hesitantly.

“Of course, dear,” Professor Umbridge answered.

“I’m on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and we’re having tryouts for a new Keeper on Friday.  Could I maybe do that detention another day? Or maybe do some other punishment as long as I’m allowed to go to the tryouts?”  She sounded hopeful.

Umbridge smiled.  “Oh no, Miss Rose.  You’ve spread nasty, attention-seeking stories.  How am I to know you’re not just telling another tale?  Even if I do believe you’re telling the truth, the purpose of a punishment is to punish, after all.  I can’t simply bend it to your whims. However, if you truly are missing an activity you’d rather be doing, that should make it all the more effective.”

Ruby looked at her hands.

“Now, you two will be doing lines,” Professor Umbridge declared.  “I have provided quills and parchment for you on the desks. You are to write “I must not tell lies.””

“How many times?” Jaune asked.

Professor Umbridge smiled again, this time too sweetly for comfort.  “Until the message sinks in.” As the students stared at her, she gave a little wave of her hand in their direction.  “Get to it.”

“There’s no ink,” Jaune said.

“You won’t need ink.”  Professor Umbridge picked up a stack of parchment and began to shuffle through them, selecting a few to begin working on.

So Jaune set the quill to the parchment and began.   _ I must not tell lies _ .

Immediately, his hand stung.  He turned it over to look--perhaps a bug had bitten him?--but instead, he found healed-over scratch marks instead.

Ruby’s gasp told him that she must be experiencing the same thing.

 

They wrote for hours.  The scratches became more severe on their hands, but neither said a thing.

 

Finally, long after dark had fallen outside the windows and the essays had been graded, Umbridge called them to her desk.

“Hands,” she commanded, and Jaune and Ruby held out their right hands.

Jaune was surprised how small Ruby’s hand was in comparison to his.  Umbridge took their fingers in her palms and examined the pattern of scratches.  She made a sound of displeasure.

“Looks like the message hasn’t sunk in yet.  You’ll have to do better tomorrow,” she instructed both of them.

On the way back to Gryffindor tower, Ruby rubbed her injured hand.

“That’s messed up,” Jaune muttered.  “It’s child abuse. She’s totally insane!”

“And the worst part is that no one will ever believe us if we tell the truth,” Ruby said, her head down.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s not like the other teachers can take our side or she’ll get them fired, if she works for the Ministry.  Professor Ozpin can’t get her to stop, or she’ll just tell the Ministry he’s a liar and that maybe we just cut ourselves. There’s nowhere we can go in Hogwarts.”

“This sucks.  This absolutely sucks,” Jaune said.

They walked the rest of the way back to Gryffindor Tower in gloomy silence.

 

The next morning, Yang sat down next to Ruby in the Common Room while she was writing in her dream journal, scribbling down made-up dreams before breakfast.  To Ruby’s surprise, Yang opened her own journal and began to write too.

“Didn’t you have time to do that last night?” Ruby asked her.

“I was practicing for the Quidditch tryouts,” Yang explained as she wrote.  “Though I think I spent more time trying to get Quaffles to fly at me than actually flying.”

“I hope you do really well,” Ruby said, and forced herself to mean it.  “I’m sorry I won’t be there.”

“Don’t be,” Yang replied dismissively and shut her dream journal.  “She couldn’t put the whole class in detention for speaking up, so she made you a scapegoat.  Hey, do you think Trelawney will believe I dreamt about sentient tea-trays?”

“If it ends in my death, she’ll believe anything.”

 

It wasn’t until the third detention that the cuts stopped healing and droplets of blood rolled off of Ruby and Jaune’s hands and stained their parchment.  She let them off early that night.

 

They ran into Yang in the hallway taking her broom back to the dorm.

“Hey, guys!  Did the old bat let you out early?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said.  “I guess she was in a good mood or something.  How’s Quidditch practice going?”

“The spell works better now,” Yang said, “although I spend more time chasing the damn things than blocking them.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Jaune said.

“So, what’s detention with Umbridge like?”

“Lines,” Ruby answered too quickly.  “Just lines, over and over.”

“That sounds like hell.”  Yang groaned.

Jaune shifted his bag on his shoulder, and something about the motion caught Yang’s attention.  “Hey, is your hand all right?”

“Huh?  This?” Jaune indicated his injured hand.  “Yeah, I guess. It’s not deep, I don’t think.”

Yang walked over into the light and held out her hands for Jaune to put his in.

“It’s not necessary, really,” Jaune protested, but Yang grabbed his arm and yanked him over.  She gasped when she saw the words carved into his flesh.

“Did Umbridge make you do that?” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Ruby said meekly.  She showed Yang her own hand.

“What the absolute hell?” Yang hissed.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was trying to figure out how to tell you so you wouldn’t lose your mind!” Ruby hissed back.  “You don’t need detention too, not when Quidditch tryouts are coming up!”

“Does Ozpin know?”

Ruby shook her head.  “Even if he did, what could he do about it?”

“Fire her, for one.”

“Yang, she works for the Ministry!”

Yang huffed, and dropped Jaune’s hand.

“Fine.  Whatever.  But know that the second I get a chance, I’m kicking her ass.”

 

On the fourth day, Professor Umbridge kept them long after dark until she could claim she’d left her mark, then released them.  Thankfully for Ruby and Jaune, Gryffindors knew how to throw a party.

“I’m Keeper!” Yang exclaimed, running to Ruby the second she crawled through the portrait hole into the common room.  She picked up her sister and gave her a bear hug.

“That’s great, Yang!” Her sister hugged her tighter.  “Ow--let me down--”

Yang set Ruby back on her feet.

“Yang!” Katie Bell called, and waved her over.  “Let’s see if we have robes that fit you.”

“See you around, Ruby!”  Yang jogged over to join the other girl in the Quidditch supply closet.

Once Yang and Katie were standing together and fingering through the racks of uniforms in the closet, Angelina approached Ruby.  “Your sister’s the Keeper,” she said unnecessarily. “She’s not a great Quidditch player, but then turned out to be the best fit, scheduling-wise.  Anyway, practice is at two tomorrow, so be there. And just try and help Yang out, all right? She’s the best we happen to have at the moment.”

Ruby nodded.

Angelina clapped her on the shoulder.  “Awesome.”

Ruby stayed at the party for a little bit, had a butterbeer, and talked to the other members of the Quidditch team.  However, she was exhausted, emotionally and physically. She had a huge backlog of homework to catch up on and her hand was cramped from writing lines and being sliced at the same time.

But she did give her sister another hug before heading up to the girls’ dormitories.  On the other side of the dorm, she thought she saw Jaune heading through the door to the boys’ dorms as she left the party.


	10. Letters and Quidditch

Ruby woke up before anyone else in their dormitory and used the opportunity to pen a quick letter to their Uncle Qrow.  She hadn’t previously written to him--mostly, Yang did that, since he was her biological uncle--but she wanted to make sure the Order really got the picture of how things were changing at Hogwarts.

It took Ruby a long time watching the sun rise over the horizon and seeing the shadows shrink before she had figured out a way to word her letter vaguely enough that it wouldn’t be easily comprehensible to someone who hadn’t spent the last summer at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

Finally, she set her quill to parchment.  Ultimately, it was safer for her to write to her dad than to anyone else.

_ Dear Dad, _

_ This first week back has been pretty awful.  I got detention for talking back in Professor Umbridge’s class.  But that’s over now, and I’m glad it’s the weekend. _

_ By the way, let me explain who Professor Umbridge is.  She’s the new Defense teacher. She’s not nearly as nice as you and doesn’t teach us cool stuff.  We just read from the textbook. I didn’t think it was possible to make Defense boring, but she did. _

_ Our biggest friend hasn’t returned this year.  Everyone’s wondering if he’s okay. Hope to see him soon. _

_ Please let your bird-brained friend know what’s going on and that we can’t wait to go see him next summer. _

_ Love you lots! _

_ Ruby Rose _

Ruby figured that was good enough, and sealed the letter.  She’d send it off later, and tucked it under her mattress before crawling back into bed to rest until breakfast.

 

Before breakfast, Blake left the dorm to post her own letter.  Ruby had been awake, it looked like, but had fallen asleep again.  Carefully, Blake slipped on her robes and shoes and made her way towards the Owlery.

She used one of the school owls to send the letter off, tempting it to her with an Owl Treat from the dispenser, and she watched it fly off into the deep blue sky, over the Forbidden Forest, until she could no longer see it.

Blake stood there for a moment, just watching the skyline and thinking about making sure to go outside to study or watch the Quidditch practice.  She turned when she heard the door open behind her.

Ilia stood in the doorway, her own letter clutched between her fingers.  “Hey,” she said, waving with her free hand. 

“Hey,” Blake said back.

“Nice weather today.  It should be good for Quidditch practice this morning,” Ilia said, coming to stand next to her and peer out the windows.  “Did Gryffindor get a new Keeper yet?”

“Yeah, it’s my friend Yang,” Blake replied.

“Is she any good?”

Blake shrugged.  “I didn’t go watch the tryouts.”

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t play Quidditch,” Ilia said.  She chose and owl and secured her letter before sending it out a window.  “Do you watch the matches at least?”

“Of course,” Blake replied.

“I guess I’ll see you out there, then.”

They walked in companionable silence until they reached the West Wing, at which point Ilia raised one hand.  “I’ve gotta go this way,” she said.

“Oh, okay...Bye!” Blake called awkwardly after her, waving at her back.

As she walked to Gryffindor Tower, Blake cursed herself. That had been a stupid way to end their conversation.  God, Ilia probably thought she was as dumb as a rock.

Blake shook her head, and her face was still red as she reached Gryffindor Tower and got ready for breakfast.

 

At breakfast, Ruby and Yang were making plans for the day.

“Do you want to go out before practice today and just, you know, warm up?” Yang asked Ruby as she speared a pancake with her fork.  “Just to make sure we’re in shape?”

Ruby knew that her sister was struggling to hide her insecurity from the look in her eye, and also that she didn’t want to do her own mountain of homework.  “Sure.”

Meanwhile, Blake was paying the owl for her copy of the Daily Prophet, which she opened and skimmed through.  “Guys, look at this,” she said, and folded the page over, showing the small article to Ruby and Yang. “Qrow Branwen has been spotted in London again!”

Blake did a good job of looking alarmed, probably because she was alarmed at the gravity of the situation.  To keep Qrow alive and out of Azkaban, they needed to keep him sheltered and his presence a secret.

Something, somewhere, had slipped.

“He must have gone on an errand or something,” Ruby whispered, her eyes wide.

“Overall, it isn’t a big deal, though,” Blake said.  “He just can’t leave again.”

“That’s the problem!  He doesn’t listen!” Ruby said, then put her hand over her face in frustration.

“Just like you guys, when I tell you that you should take your own notes instead of borrowing mine,” Blake muttered.

“You can’t expect us to stay awake in History of Magic!”

 

After breakfast, Ruby and Yang went out to the Quidditch pitch.  Ruby threw Quaffles at Yang so that she could practice blocking, and she did relatively well, Ruby thought, generally getting about half.

Not bad for someone who could fly, but with no Quidditch experience.

 

The Slytherins watched the Quidditch practice and jeered at the Gryffindor players from the bleachers.

Angelina told everyone to ignore them in the team meeting before practice, but no one really could.

“New Keeper’s top-heavy!” a girl yelled.  “How’s she gonna stay on a broom?”

“Ignore them,” Ruby whispered to her sister.  “They’re just jealous that they keep losing to our awesome team.”

“Okay, let’s do some passes to warm up!” Angelina shouted to the team, and everyone took off, forming a loose circle in the air above the pitch.  Angelina started passing it clockwise around the circle, and it made a few rounds. 

“Either Ruby’s miniature, or Yang’s part Giant!” shrieked one of the girls as Angelina reversed the passing.

Yang missed the pass, distracted by the shouting, and dove to recover the Quaffle, throwing it hard at Katie.  She wasn’t ready for such an intense throw, and the ball hit her just beneath the eye, causing her to shout. She fumbled it for a moment, and when she brought the Quaffle away from her face, a huge bruise shone on her cheek.

Yang held her hands over her mouth in surprise.  “I didn’t try that, I swear!” Yang shouted. She looked appalled and pale.

Below them, the Slytherin students laughed.

“Don’t do it again,” Angelina shouted back.  “Let’s get a Snitch and a Bludger out here. Aim for Xiao Long’s goal!”

Yang zoomed over to the nearest set of three hoops and got in position, while Ruby and one of the Beaters fetched their equipment from the Quidditch case.

 

When Weiss came out to the Quidditch pitch while looking for Cardin, she found him sitting on the bleachers with a group of students from their house laughing and chanting insults at the Gryffindor Quidditch practice.

She already hadn’t wanted to go hunt for Cardin, but a Prefect had to supervise the Common Room and her shift was nearly over, so by the time she witnessed their antics, Weiss found herself clenching her fists at her side and marching up the stairs.

“Gryffindors are losers, Gryffindors are losers!” they chanted.

“What are you doing?” she snapped at them.  “Childish taunts? Is this what you want people to think of Slytherin House and its representatives?”

“Loosen up, Schnee,” Cardin said, gesturing to the game in front of them.  “It’s just harmless fun.”

“Harmless fun that will lose us House points,” Weiss snapped back.  “Anyway, I’m breaking up your little party. It’s your shift to supervise the Common Room, and I haven’t been to the library all week.”

“Come on.  Can’t you take one more?”

Weiss turned up her nose.  “No. Take some responsibility for once in your life.”

And she marched off the bleachers, forcing Cardin to chase after her to attempt to beg for her to do his job just one more time.

 

Ruby and Yang were the last ones in the Common Room on Sunday night, doing all the homework they’d set aside during the week for Quidditch and detentions.  

“If those detentions weren’t punishment, this is,” Ruby muttered to Yang, who sat on the other side of the table.

In exhausted frustration, Yang put her head down on her essay, smudging the wet ink and getting it in her blonde hair.  “I barely even--” Her violet eyes widened. 

Ruby turned around.  

A familiar face floated in the Gryffindor fireplace with shaggy hair and a cheeky smile.  

“Uncle Qrow!” she breathed, and jumped out of her chair, crawling to sit in front of the fire with Yang hot on her heels, their homework forgotten.

“It was a toss-up between whether you’d miss me, or whether you’d leave before everyone else did,” their uncle said.  “I’ve been looking in every hour or so to see if the coast was clear yet. You kids just don’t sleep, do you?”

“Not tonight we don’t,” Yang said, adjusting herself to sit cross-legged with her elbows on her knees and her head resting on her hands.  

“You’ve been checking?” Ruby said, a little worried.  “What if someone saw you?”

“I haven’t been staying long enough for anyone to think I wasn’t anything more than a puff of ash or something, don’t worry kiddo.  Believe it or not, this is the safest way to answer your letter. After all, codes can be broken.”

Yang looked at her sister.  “You wrote to Qrow?”

Ruby waved her off.  “Technically I wrote to Dad.”

“Don’t worry, Yang, the letter was solid.  Complaining about teachers, normal kid stuff.  Either way, I couldn’t find any evidence of tampering.  I can’t believe they sent Umbridge to teach, though. As far as I’ve heard, her only notable skill seems to be “being an old hag”.  And before you say anything else, I’m gonna bet Blake hates her. Am I right?”

“How’d you know that?” Yang asked.

“She authored a bill that would have broken up the White Fang if it had passed,” Qrow explained.  “And it nearly did. It’s part of the reason Ghira’s no longer the leader of the White Fang.”

“I’ve never seen her question a teacher like that,” Ruby admitted.  “I thought it was just about the fact that she doesn’t let us use magic in class.”

Qrow looked down for a moment and thought.  “That lines up with what the Order knows too,” he said.  “There’s been rumors around the Ministry that anything that could possibly be used as a combat spell is being removed from the curriculum.  Of course they’d start with Defense.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Ruby protested.  “Do they want us to be helpless?”

“Actually, that’s exactly what they want.  They want you in a position where anyone who believes in Ozpin more than the Ministry can’t stand up to them, letting them move in and do whatever they want.”

“They’re that afraid of a bunch of kids?” Yang looked furious.  The fire reflected off her eyes, making her irises appear to be a deep maroon.

“They are.  Fudge thinks that you’re going to be Ozpin’s army when he comes to take down the Ministry.”  Qrow held up his hands. “And that is exactly as crazy as it sounds, because as far as anyone in the Order knows, Oz has no plans for anything like that.  Listen, we can’t stay here all night. Let’s get to talking about Hagrid. Yeah, he’s supposed to be back already, but he’s been in touch with Ghira Belladonna pretty regularly.  So he’s fine. Let Nora and Ren know, but don’t talk about it too openly. Knowing how Umbridge feels about anything not entirely pure human, it’s probably better this way. She’d be trying to arrest him for sure.”

Qrow’s head vanished out of the fire for a moment.  

“Shit!” he hissed.  “Listen, your dad just got here and he’ll roast my ass if he finds me talking to you like this.  I’ll write you when I think it will be safe enough to try this again, and we’ll talk later. Don’t write to me, either of you.”

And with that, the fire returned to normal, and stayed that way.


	11. Evaluations

The next morning, Blake gasped when she saw the headline on the cover of the Daily Prophet.

“What is it?” Yang asked, leaning over to get a better look at the front page.  She, too, got a look at the cover. “Oh, shit.” Upon seeing her friends’ faces, she explained.  “Umbridge is front-page news.”

“How?” Jaune asked, craning around to try and get a better look at the paper.

Ruby stood and walked behind Blake and Yang to look at the story.  Indeed, Umbridge stared out at them from the paper, smiling and blinking with a disgusting false innocence.

Blake read the article aloud.

**_MINISTRY SEEKS EDUCATIONAL REFORM_ **

**_DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST-EVER “HIGH INQUISITOR”_ **

_ In a surprise move last night, the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. _

_ “The appointment is intended to respond to concerns from anxious parents about the quality and focus of education at Hogwarts,” said Junior Assistant to the Ministry, Velvet Scarlatina.   _

_ This is not the first time in recent weeks that Fudge has used new laws to effect change at the historical Wizarding school.  As recently as August 30th, Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two was passed, permitting the Ministry to appoint teachers in core magical subjects if Professor Ozpin is unable to find a suitable teacher before the beginning of the school year. _

_ “That is how Delores Umbridge came to teach at Hogwarts,” Scarlatina explained.  “Ministry reports indicate that she has been an immediate success with the students.” _

Everyone but Blake made noises of protest, but stopped when she held up her hand and continued reading the article.

_ Professor Umbridge has totally revolutionized teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts by successfully implementing a Ministry-approved curriculum and providing vital, timely feedback to the Minister on students’ progress.   _

_ It is this last function that lead the Minister to sign Educational Decree Number Twenty-Three, creating the post of Hogwarts High Inquisitor and appointing Professor Umbridge to the new position. _

_ “This is part of the Minister’s plan to rectify falling standards at Hogwarts,” said Scarlatina.  “The High Inquisitor will have the duty of inspecting her fellow educators in order to ensure that they adhere to Ministry-approved, age-appropriate curricula and teaching methods.” _

_ The Ministry has received enthusiastic responses from parents about the new law. _

_ “I believe that these changes at Hogwarts will only increase the quality of my children's’ education,” said Mr. Jacques Schnee when asked about his opinion of the new legislation.  “Some of Ozpin’s more eccentric appointments have made me question his ability to judge the suitability of his teachers.” _

_ Those eccentric decisions have included hiring paranoid and battle-scarred ex-Auror ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody and Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant. _

_ Rumors abound that Ozpin, once Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of the Wizangamot, is no longer able to properly manage such a large and prestigious institution as Hogwarts. _

_ “The appointment of the Inquisitor is an important first step in ensuring that the public can remain confident that Hogwarts will fulfill their children’s educational needs,” a Ministry insider said. _

_ Wizengamot elders Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Ogden have resigned in protest of the introduction of the Inquisitor to Hogwarts.   _

_ “Hogwarts is a school, not an output of Cornelius Fudge’s office,” Marchbanks said last night.  “In light of other recent events, it appears that this is yet another attempt to discredit Professor Ozpin.” _

Blake set down the paper after she finished reading.

“That’s insane,” Jaune said.  “Hands down, that’s messed up.”

“What’s worse is the fact that people think that hag can actually teach,” Nora moaned.  

“From what Nora has told me, I knew that the Ministry didn’t like Ozpin,” Ren said, “but I didn’t realize how much they disliked him until now.”

“The Ministry is even worse than I thought,” Blake muttered.  “It really sucks that we can’t do anything to change...this.” She gestured at the hall around her.  “It’s not even our fault what Ozpin says or does, or that the cults came back, but we’re the ones punished.”

“We just gotta press on,” Ruby encouraged her friend.  “We can’t let her get to us. That means she wins.”

“Just like what Professor Goodwitch said.”  Jaune smiled. “She has too much power already.  We can’t give her any more.”

Meanwhile, Yang looked at her watch.  “Guys, I hate to interrupt this lovely conversation, but do we really want to be late if she decides to evaluate Professor Binns?”

At that, everyone else looked at their watches.

“Oh, crap!”

They grabbed their things and ran to class.

 

Their first evaluated class happened later that day with Professor Trelawney.  Professor Umbridge ascended the ladder into the tower room as everyone gathered their textbooks and took their dream journals from their bags.

“You received my note detailing the date and time of your inspection, correct?” Umbridge asked by way of greeting.

Professor Trelawney gave her a short nod and only barely looked over her shoulder at the other teacher.  Several of the students shared quick glances, glad that their teacher disliked Umbridge as much as they did.  It made them feel vindicated.

Once everyone was seated, Professor Trelawney walked to the front of the room and clasped her hands in front of her chest.  “Please divide into pairs to continue your dream studies,” she explained, though her voice was less...dreamy and sure than usual.  When they students didn’t move right away, she clapped her hands, making the bangles around her wrists jingle. “Now, please.”

Ruby and Yang turned in their seats to face each other.  “Well?” Yang hissed. “Come up with a dream.”

Ruby flipped through her half-completed journal before landing on a full page.  “I dreamt I was walking down a really long hallway last night,” she read off. “How’s that for a dream?”

Yang bent over the textbook, doing arithmetic on a scrap bit of parchment and pulling numbers from tables.  

Professor Umbridge followed Professor Trelawney closer to their table as she walked around the room, quizzing students about their dreams.  Three tables away, she spoke to Jaune.

“Hurry up!” Ruby hissed at her sister.

“You made me lose my place!”

“Then you come up with a dream and I’ll figure it out!”

Yang flipped through her journal.  “Last Thursday, I dreamt about chasing a house-elf around our house.  Weird, because we don’t have a house-elf.”

Ruby grabbed her sister’s book and quill and began to perform the calculations on Yang’s dream.  Just as she began, Professors Umbridge and Trelawney stopped by their table to talk. Yang listened in.

“How long have you taught at Hogwarts, exactly?” Professor Umbridge asked.

“Sixteen years,” Professor Trelawney said in a dreamy voice.

“And Professor Ozpin appointed you?”

“Of course.”

“And you are the great-great-granddaughter of the renowned Seer Cassandra Trelawney?”

Professor Trelawney gave a sharp nod.  “Yes.”

“And you’re the first in your family since to be possessed of the gift of second sight?”

“These things often skip three generations,” Professor Trelawney said, standing tall.

Professor Umbridge grinned at her.  “Well, if you could just make a prediction, then?”

Professor Trelawney’s confidence vanished.  “What do you mean?”

“I’d like to hear a prediction.”

By now, the entire class wasn’t even pretending to interpret dreams anymore.  Everyone was listening to the conversation in the middle of the room.

“The Inner Eye does not bend to our mortal whims!” Professor Trelawney snapped, then stopped, her eyes going wide.  “Oh! Oh, dear! For I do see something! Something that concerns you, Professor!” She clutched at her shawl, her attempt at looking scandalized and shocked ruined by the remnants of her anger in her voice and posture.  “You...I see something dark...you are in grave danger…”

Professor Umbridge didn’t find this impressive.  She just made a note on her clipboard. “Well, if that’s the best you’ve got for me…”  

Professor Trelawney looked around the room.  “Surely not everyone has completed the interpretations for their dream journals yet, for that I do not require the Second Sight to observe!” she said quite loudly,and everyone turned back to their books as she returned to going around the room and loudly interpreting everyone’s dreams, including Ruby’s.  Somehow, all of her dreams foretold a gruesome death, even the ones about the hallway (which, for some reason, had not spelled a horrible demise for Nora when she’d told them to Ren).

 

Their next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, and everyone had already learned that they needed their textbooks out first thing.  Blake had arrived in the classroom before her friends, and she sat, staring straight ahead, a determined look on her face.

“As we finished Chapter 1 last lesson, please turn to page 19 to begin Chapter 2, ‘Common Defensive Theories and Their Derivation’.  There is no need to talk.”

She sat down at her desk as the class opened their books and began to read.  Well, everyone opened their books except for Blake, who kept staring straight ahead and raised her hand.

Professor Umbridge approached her desk and leaned in close, perhaps to avoid other students hearing and involving themselves, as had happened last time.

“We’re reading right now, Miss Belladonna.”

“I’ve read Chapter Two,’ Blake answered, but didn’t lower her voice.

“Well, then--”

“I read the whole book.  Do I really have to be here if all we’re going to do is read?”

“Watch your tone, Miss Belladonna,” Umbridge said.  “If you’ve read the book as thoroughly as you think you have, then please tell me what Slinkhard says about counter-jinxes in Chapter 15.”  She smiled, like she had caught Blake in a trap.

“He claims that counter-jinxes are just what people call jinxes to make them more socially acceptable.  But that’s not right,” Blake continued, “because last year’s textbook defined counter-jinxes as designed for self-defense situations.”

“Well, I’m afraid that it is this year’s textbook that defines the spells you need to know for this class, not last year’s, Miss Belladonna.”

“So did--”

“Enough,” Umbridge said with a note of finality.  “Five points from Gryffindor for insubordination.”

“Why?” Yang asked, not being subtle about it at all.

“For disrupting class with pointless interruptions.  I am here to teach you using a Ministry- approved method that does not include treating students’ opinions on the subject as fact.  Your previous teachers in this subject may have allowed you more freedom of expression, but none of them--except perhaps Professor Torchwick, as he at least restrained himself to covering age-appropriate materials--would have passed a Ministry inspection.”  She looked over the class, satisfied by the fact that no one had yet called out to counter her. “Now, please continue your reading.”

 

“She says Torchwick was a great teacher?” Ruby exploded the moment she stepped out of the classroom.  “He tried to kill me! He performed blood magic and strangled me! That’s not what a good teacher does!”

“I know,” Nora said sympathetically.  “She has no idea what she’s talking about.”

Jaune shook his head.  “There has to be something we can do.”

“There isn’t,” Blake said, and anger caused her voice to shake.  “She’s just too powerful. The Minister would never have her removed.”

Yang turned to look at Blake as they walked to lunch.  “Do you think it’s because you’re a Faunus?”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t she try and pass a bunch of anti-Faunus legislation?”

“Yeah. So?”

“There are other Faunus students at the school, Yang, but I’m the only one who read the whole textbook.  I’m pretty sure she’s just mad that I know enough to call her out on her bullshit.”

But Blake didn’t look at Yang over lunch, and Yang knew her words had probably hit a nerve.

 

But that wasn’t the end of it.  Umbridge was also auditing their Transfiguration class.

“Professor Goodwitch isn’t gonna take any of her bull!” Nora whispered excitedly.

Professor Goodwitch came into the room without a glance at Professor Umbridge, and the class obediently fell silent the moment she stood in front of her desk.  “Miss Belladonna, please hand back the homework from last class. Mr. Ren, please hand out these mice.”

Ren didn’t look totally sure about his task, but took the box anyway and started following Blake around the classroom.

Professor Umbridge made the coughing sound she’d used to interrupt Professor Ozpin, but Professor Goodwitch ignored her.

“Now that most of you have managed to vanish snails, we will be graduating to mice--”

Professor Umbridge kept making the sound until Professor Goodwitch turned to look at her with the most severe expression possible on her face.  If she had used that look on any of her students, they would have begged for mercy. But Professor Umbridge didn’t have enough of a self-preservation instinct to dare apologize.

“I was just wondering if you had received my letter informing you of my observation today.”

“Yes, I did.”  She turned back to her students.  “Mice are--”

Professor Umbridge resumed attempting to interrupt her.  Now Professor Goodwitch raised her voice.

“If you continue to interrupt me, how do you expect to evaluate my teaching methods, Professor?”

This time, Umbridge got the very clear message, and Professor Goodwitch finished the lesson without further interruption.

 

“She’s following us!” Nora whispered, grabbing Ren’s arm and hanging on as she turned around.

The others looked too.

Professor Umbridge headed down the hill to their Care of Magical Creatures class and Nora released Ren before she could get closer.

As they’d early, they got to hear Umbridge question Grubbly-Plank about her teaching experience after their terse exchange of greetings.

“I’m a substitute teacher,” Professor Grubbly-Plank responded as the students edged closer to the front of the class, trying to eavesdrop without being noticed.  The teachers kept talking. 

“I see, yes, Professor Ozpin told me,” Professor Umbridge said as she took notes.  “Would you happen to know why Professor Hagrid cannot teach his own class for the time being?”

Professor Grubbly-Plank shrugged.  “‘Fraid not. I don’t have to know why he’s gone to teach, only the curriculum...well, shall I begin?”

“Please,” Umbridge requested, and stepped to the side.  Professor Grubbly-Plank went over their lesson for the day, and as she set them to feeding and caring for the bowtruckles, she talked more with Professor Umbridge.

“Oh, Ozpin’s wonderful,” Professor Grubbly-Plank said each time she was asked.  Umbridge seemed determined to try and catch her saying something less-than-pleasant about the headmaster.  Finally, she switched her line of questioning. “Was there not an injury in this class?”

Cardin raised his hand.  “That was me, Professor. I was slashed by a Hippogriff.”

“Only because you taunted it and didn’t listen to instructions!” Nora interjected.

“The question was not addressed to you, Miss Valkyrie,” Professor Umbridge said sharply.  Her voice was soft when she spoke again. “I think that’s all, Professor Grubbly-Plank.”


	12. Taking the Initiative

“I wish there was something we could do about that hag,” Nora said from where she lay on the ground in the Common Room, books and parchment spread out in front of her.  “One, she’s an awful person--”

“--One of the worst teachers we’ve had--” Ren interjected.

“--and what Ren said,” Nora finished.  “Can’t teach, can’t be nice, has no sense of style.  It’s like she failed at basic human decency.”

“How about we dig a really big hole and drop her in from the top of the Astronomy tower?” Yang suggested.  

“Yang!” Ruby scolded her sister.

“You’re right, she’d see a giant hole coming a mile away.”

“We can’t get rid of her,” Ren said.  “We can’t even complain about her, or else the Ministry might try even harder to keep her here.  I think our biggest problem is that she can’t teach and we need to pass our OWLs if we want any hope of having a decent career.”

The bigger issue was probably Salem, but no one wanted to say it aloud.

“Yeah, we can’t pass the Defense OWL if we can’t do the spells,” Blake agreed.

“I was in the library today, guys,” Jaune said, “and all the Defense textbooks have waitlists a mile long.  Everyone’s suffering from this.”

“What if we figured out a way to learn together?” Ruby suggested.  “We grouped together, used the books, and taught ourselves?”

“How would that even work?” Yang asked.  “First, we’d need to get the space, we’d need to get the books, we’d probably need supervision…”

“It was just an idea,” Ruby grumbled.

“Does anyone else have a better idea?” Jaune asked.

Everyone looked at each other.

Nora raised one hand.  “I still say we chuck her in a hole.”

“Nora!” Ren admonished.

“Just sayin’!”

“And I wasn’t really saying it was a bad idea,” Yang continued, “except for the fact that we have nothing we’d need to do it and not get in trouble for cursing each other outside of class.”

I feel like if we get in trouble, we get in trouble,” Blake said.  “There are more important things than getting a few detentions.”

“You’d think they want us to know how to protect ourselves,” Jaune said, “after what happened to Pyrrha.  She doesn’t deserve to be forgotten. We need to make sure that no one else dies like she did. We owe it to her.”

The fire in his eyes and the emotion just beneath the surface of his voice sealed the deal for everyone.  “Okay, but who would instruct us?” Ren asked. “We’re going to need a teacher if we can’t get the books.

“We could ask Professor Goodwitch,” Ruby suggested.  “I know she teaches Transfiguration, but I think she’d understand.”

“No,” Blake said.  “Professor Umbridge is probably watching all the teachers closely, and we know she’s behind Professor Ozpin.  He needs all the support he can get, which means he doesn’t need Professor Umbridge to have any reason to go after Professor Goodwitch.”

They proceeded to debate roping almost every other one of their teachers into this idea, but for each one, someone found a reason why they shouldn’t let that person in on the idea.

“What if we just did it ourselves?” Yang suggested.  “What if one of us taught the class?”

The students looked at each other.

“Well, I think Nora and Ruby would be the best people for the job,” Jaune said.

“What?”

“Are you kidding me?” Ruby and Nora spoke at the same time.

“I am not a teacher.”  Ruby shook her head.

“And have you even met me?” Nora asked incredulously.

“It’s actually not a bad idea,” Blake said, and as they opened their mouths to protest, she held up one hand.  “In our first year, Ruby managed to face a creature of Grimm directly and save an artifact. In our second year, Nora saved her life.  Last year, Ruby held her own in the Triwizard Tournament. And Nora is the only one in our year who can cast a Patronus. I don’t know of two other people in our year who can think on their feet like you guys.”

Nora shook her head.  “I’m not cut out to be a teacher.  I just got really lucky a few times.  I don’t even do all that great in Defense, not like Ruby does.  It wasn’t thinking, just acting, and I was scared out of my mind each time.”

Ruby looked up at Nora.  “But that’s what Blake’s saying.  Even though you were scared, you acted.  You didn’t freeze or run. You defended yourself, which means that you probably know Defense stuff way better than you think you do.  Neither of us can teach. No one here is a teacher. But someone has to do it, and I can’t cast a Patronus.” She paused. “Please?”

 

“Fine,” Nora announced three days later as she walked into their dorm room and threw her bag next to her bed.  

Blake and Ruby glanced at her, confused. 

“I’ll do it.  I’ll teach. Even if I do it wrong...we have to try, right?”

 

“So, where is this meeting?” Ruby asked Yang as they walked to Hogsmeade on a chilly October morning for their first visit of the year.

“Don’t worry.  I’ve found just the place,” Yang said with a wink.  “And I checked, it’s not off-limits to students to meet there.  But I’ve never seen students go in there, so…”

And with pride, she marched them all the way to the end of town to a dingy bar called The Hog’s Head.

Nora noticed Ren unconsciously take a step back as they stood in front of the entrance.

“And you’re sure about this?” Blake asked.

“Of course,” Yang said, still grinning at her own cleverness.  “It’s on the main street, isn’t it?”

When no one looked impressed, she heaved a dramatic sigh.  “It will be fine!” she exclaimed, and walked forward. After a moment, the rest of her friends followed her down the street until she turned into an alley and walked down a set of stairs to a basement door with the image of a boar’s head dripping blood from the stump of its neck on the door.

“How did you even find this place?” Blake wondered aloud.

“I have my ways,” Yang said, and held open the door.

The small one-room pub was barely lit and between the darkness and accumulated grime, looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a hundred years.  The three or four patrons and the bartender all wore hoods or veils, which covered their faces, and all had drinks in their hands.

They ordered butterbeer from the bartender, who produced chilled bottles from underneath the counter and handed them over, only speaking to tell them the total for their drinks.

“I bet I could have ordered Firewhisky.”  Yang looked over her shoulder wistfully at the bar.

“Even if we can’t get in trouble for meeting here, you can still get in trouble for that,” Ren reminded her.  “You’ve invited two Prefects, at least, here.”

Students began to trickle in and order drinks, settling down at the tables around theirs to listen.

“This is just a few more people than I thought would be here,” Nora said anxiously.

“Don’t worry,” Ruby told her.  

When it appeared that everyone had settled in, Ruby stood in front of their table.  “Um, good morning everyone,” she said. “We’re here because we want to actually study Defense Against the Dark Arts, not just read out of textbooks because...because that doesn’t make any sense and you can’t really learn how to perform a spell just by reading about it.”

“So is this just for people to pass their OWLs, or…?” someone called out.

“Bigger than that,” Jaune interjected.  “Salem is back and we can’t keep pretending that last year didn’t happen.”

People began to talk amongst themselves.

“How do you know?” a girl demanded.

“If you don’t-” Yang started, but Ruby put a hand on her arm.  

“I saw Salem return.  I saw the cult kill Pyrrha because she wasn’t part of their plan and it was the worst day of my life.  I don’t want to talk about it. Please. I’d rather focus on learning to fight back. Because I never want to see that again,” Ruby said, and although her voice conveyed strength that it hadn’t had a year ago, it also contained incredible pain.

Silence hung heavy in the room for a second.

“I guess we need to figure out a place and time to meet now,” Blake said.  

Angelina’s hand shot up.  “This can’t interfere with our Quidditch practice,” she said.  “You know that, right?”

“No shit,” Yang agreed.  

“Not ours, either,” Ilia said.

Other people made more noises of agreement.

“It won’t interfere with Quidditch if at all possible,” Ruby said, quieting everyone down.  “I’m on a Quidditch team, and so is Yang. We get it. Plus, Nora could cover for me if anything came up.”

“What’s she got to do with any of this?” someone shouted out.

“She’s the only one in our year that can cast the Patronus charm,” a girl with braids said.  “I’d want someone like that teaching us.”

Many people looked impressed with this.

“Does everyone agree with once a week?” Blake asked.

The small crowd nodded and a few affirmatives issued forth.

“Where are we meeting?” someone called.

“And that’s the hard part,” Nora muttered.

They discussed perhaps using an empty classroom or dungeon or the library, but all of those places got nixed for being too easy to be discovered in or because other teachers (not necessarily Umbridge) would control their access to those spaces.  Considering Umbridge could probably do worse than get those teachers fired, no one wanted to risk it.

“Once we find a place, we’ll need a list of people to contact so we can make sure everyone knows who wants to attend,” Ren said, taking a sheet of parchment from his bag.  He turned, placed it on the table, and wrote on it. “Sign your name on this sheet so we can let you know once the details are finalized.”

The paper made its way around the room.  Some people signed without hesitation. Others whispered to friends and passed it on.  Some people looked around anxiously before adding their name and passed the parchment on as quickly as possible.

Once everyone stood up, a small figure in a hood stood up from one of the corners and limped over...although something about it didn’t look quite right.  Not shabby enough. The limp was odd, not like something from an actual injury.

Weiss Schnee looked up at them through a veil.

“I want to put my name on the list,” she whispered.

 

On Monday, new signs throughout the school dampened everyone’s enthusiasm.

_ BY ORDER OF _

_ The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts _

_ All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. _

_ An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is defined as a group of three or more students which hosts regular meetings or other events. _

_ Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). _

_ No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. _

_ Any student found to have formed or participated in an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled. _

_ The above is in accordance with: _

_ Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four _

_ Signed _

_ Dolores Jane Umbridge _

_ HIGH INQUISITOR _

 

“She knows,’ Yang whispered.  She clenched her fists by her sides.  “Someone snitched.”

“Impossible,” Ren said from behind her.

Yang spun around, totally surprised.  “What?”

“I jinxed the parchment,” he whispered, staring at the notice.  “If anyone tells after signing their name, something very unpleasant will happen to them.”

“Unpleasant how?”

A small smile graced Ren’s lips. “They will never be trusted again.”

 

“It’s still on, right?” Nora asked as Ruby sat down at the table.

“It’s gonna take more than a piece of paper to stop this,” Jaune said, angrily stabbing pancakes with his fork.

Before the conversation could continue, Angelica came over and stood behind Ruby and Yang, her hands on their shoulders.  Her lips pursed into a thin line. “You guys realize that this new order included our Quidditch team, right?”

“That’s insane!” Yang exclaimed.

“No way,” Ruby said.

“So yeah, I’m telling everyone this.  Do not fuck up. Hold your tongue, no matter what that cow says to or about you.  Just keep your head down and do your work until she gives us permission to form our team again.  Please do this, for Gryffindor House.”

Angelina moved on to the next group of students as the morning’s rush of owls flew through the Great Hall, distributing papers, letters, and small packages to everyone.

A little owl flew over to Ruby and offered her its leg.  Ruby untied the scroll.

A message from Qrow.  Five words:  _ Tonight.  Same time.  Same place. _  She shoved it into her pocket to tell Yang about later.


	13. Tyranny Closes In

Umbridge was in their Potions class that day.

“Now, before we begin, please be mindful of our guest today,” Professor Oobleck said as he strode into the room, gesturing to Professor Umbridge at the back of the room with a mug of coffee.  “Today’s lesson is a continuation of our last lesson on Strengthening Solutions. The matured solutions are in the storage room and your instructions,” he paused to wave his wand at the blackboard and instructions appeared, “are on the board.”

Ruby made her potion wrong because she was too focused on Umbridge’s interrogation of Oobleck and not focused enough on following the instructions on the board.

Once Umbridge seemed satisfied that all the students were working safely and Oobleck had started to make his rounds to scold, advise, and answer questions, she walked towards him and met him a row of desks away from Ruby.

“The class is very advanced for their level,” she said appreciatively.  “Although I am not sure they should be learning how to prepare a Strengthening Solution.  I don’t believe that’s in the Ministry’s revised educational guidelines.”

“I’ve been teaching to the textbook, Professor,” Professor Oobleck said stiffly as he pushed his glasses up his nose.  “Perhaps I will need to get a new edition next year.”

“Perhaps.”  Professor Umbridge positioned her quill over the paper.  “How long have you been teaching at Hogwarts?”

“Fourteen years this May.”

“And you originally intended to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts?”

“That was my intention, yes.”

“But you were unsuccessful.”

“Yes.”

“And you continue to apply for the post?”

“On a regular basis, yes.”

“Do you know why you are refused the appointment?”

Oobleck’s eyes flashed.  “Does this have any relevance to my evaluation, Professor?”

“Yes.  The Ministry wants a full...thorough understanding of teachers’ backgrounds…”  she turned back to scribbling on her clipboard and Oobleck went to prevent Nora from setting something on fire.

 

In Divination that day, Professor Trelawney started by storming around the room, slamming textbooks on tables, glaring at anyone who made any noise, and sighing sadly.  Instead of moving to open their books or get quills out of their bags, the students stared at their teacher, observing her sudden change in temperament and behavior.

“Well?” Professor Trelawney snapped when no one moved.  “Am I such a substandard teacher that you do not even know how to open a book?”

Slowly, the class started to grab their books, but their attention to the task was barely there.

“Are...are you okay, Professor?” Nora asked.

“I’m fine!  Just wonderful!”  Professor Trelawney’s voice cracked on the last word.  “They may insult me and make all the insinuations they like,” she muttered as her eye watered, “but no, everything is fine.”  Then her temper flared again. “Sixteen years of service, and this is how they repay me!”

“Who’s ‘they’, Professor?” Ruby asked.

“The establishment!” Professor Trelawney wailed.  “Those whose eyes are too clouded to truly See! But alas, those with the gift also have a curse…”  She started to cry and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. When no one else said anything, and they just stared, she waved around the room.  “Well? You know what to do!” she admonished, then spent the rest of the class puttering around the room and muttering about the indignity of it all.

 

Ruby and Yang stayed up later than everyone else, pretending to do homework that they didn’t even have.  Quidditch being called off for the Gryffindor team for the forseeable future had given them more extra time than they knew what to do with.

Finally, they sat alone near the fire, quizzing each other about potions ingredients and their uses until Yang exclaimed,”Uncle Qrow!”

“Thought you’d never notice,” he said quietly from the fireplace, brushing his hair out of his face.  “How’re things?”

“Awful,” Yang groaned.

“We’re not allowed to have Quidditch practice anymore thanks to that hag!” Ruby explained.  “She disbanded the team.”

“But did she disband your little project?” Qrow asked with a half smile.  “The one I heard about you setting up in the Hog’s Head?”

Yang set down her pencil.  “How’d you know about that?” 

“Large groups in empty spaces draw attention to themselves.  Someone overheard you.”

At the girls’ alarmed looks, Qrow sighed.

“Relax.  It was only Mundungus.  Keeping an eye on you kids.”

No one spoke for a second.  “Do you think it’s a bad idea?” Ruby asked tentatively.

“No way.  You kids need to learn to defend yourselves, not fill you head with whatever drivel Umbridge is telling you.”  He looked away thoughtfully. “Still can’t believe Oz inflicted her on you…” He turned back to his nieces. “What do you need help with for your little study group?  Anything I can do?”

Ruby and Yang exchanged a look.  

“We need a spot to practice,” Yang said.

“Hm.  How about the Shrieking Shack?”

Yang began to smile.  “Yeah, that would work!”

“How are we going to get past that tree?” Ruby argued.  “It’d be too easy for them to see us!”

“Let me think--”  Qrow’s head disappeared out of the fire with a shout of surprise.

A hand appeared in the fire, going right through the place where their uncle had been.  The gaudy rings and bracelets told Ruby and Yang immediately who it is, and they took hands and ran for the stairs, hopefully before a face could follow the hand.

Umbridge knew.

 

“Somehow, she read your mail,” Blake suggested as they talked through Charms.  “There’s no other way she would have known.”

“Guess we’re just not writing to our uncle again,” Yang muttered as she grabbed Ruby’s frog, which had started trying to make an escape.

“We got lucky,” Ruby said, taking her frog back from Yang.  “That was too close.”

They continued practicing their silencing spells in the noisy room, but no one could concentrate well enough to make the frogs shut up.

Professor Port assigned them extra practice for homework, which was a great way to start the day.


	14. An Army of Their Own

On the other hand, they also got the news that Angelica was allowed to re-establish the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which made Ruby and Yang very happy.

One person, however, still seemed like her head was in the clouds.

Ruby reached over and poked Nora so she jumped.  “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah.  Just thinking.”

“What about?”

Nora looked down.  “I’m just starting to wonder whether or not our plan is actually something we should go through with.”

“Of course it is!” Yang exclaimed.  “Why shouldn’t we do it?”

Nora still didn’t meet their eyes.  “You guys are lucky. You have homes and families.  Ren and I don’t have anything. If we get expelled, that’s it.  Game over. There’s just way too much that could go wrong. Last night proved that.”

“Yeah, but next time we’re not going to get caught,” Yang said, smiling.  “We’ll just find the right place, do it in secret...no one will ever know.  Trust me.”

 

That night, Nora stayed up late in the Common Room studying.  Ren had tried to get her to go to bed, but she didn’t want to.  She wanted to be alone to think.

Despite what she’d told her friends, she still had misgivings about this Defense group.  Everyone said they wouldn’t get caught, but it took just one careless person, and they were goners.

And worse than just organizing an illicit secret society, they were training together in combat.  They were acting in direct opposition to Ministry directives.

No one else had stood in front of a Ministry tribunal and been so terrified.

As Nora thought and warred with her desire for self-preservation with her desire to stand on the front lines and do what was right, she slipped off to sleep.  In her dreams, she still saw the hallway with the locked doors.

She’d nearly reached the end…

 

“Nora Valkyrie, miss!” A high-pitched voice startled Nora and she flailed, knocking her books to the floor and spilling an inkwell precariously perched on the edge of the chair.

“Holy crap!” Nora shouted, before finding the source of the voice that had woken her.  Dobby the House-Elf stood at the foot of her chair. “What are you doing here?”

“Dobby is coming to clean Gryffindor House, but he has found Nora Valkyrie!  What is Miss doing in the Common Area this late?”

“Well, I was trying to study,” she said as she tried to pat down her frizzy hair.  “I guess I fell asleep.”

“Nora Valkyrie was talking in her sleep.  Was Nora Valkyrie having nightmares?” Dobby gazed up at her with huge, watery, curious eyes.

“They come and go.”  Nora shrugged, trying to blow the dream off.  

“Dobby wishes Dobby could help Nora Valkyrie, as Nora Valkyrie is so kind to him and all the other house-elves…”

“Sorry, Dobby.  You can’t really fix what’s going on with me.  But thanks for the offer,” Nora answered before something occurred to her.  “Actually, though, I did have a question…”

“What is it, Miss?”  Dobby jumped up and down.

“My friends and I need a place where we can practice Defense Against the Dark Arts without anyone else knowing,” Nora said.  “Can you help us?”

Dobby clapped his hands.  “Oh yes, Nora Valkyrie, Dobby can help!  Dobby knows of a place called the Come-and-Go Room, or the Room of Requirement!”

“Where is it?”

“On the seventh floor, Nora Valkyrie!  Behind the tapestry with the trolls! All Nora Valkyrie must do is walk past it three times, thinking about what it is that Nora Valkyrie needs most, and it will appear!”

“Okay.  But how do you know we won’t be found?”

“Only people who have needs can enter the room, Nora Valkyrie.  Sometimes it can be found, sometimes it is not.”

“So let me get this straight:  If I’m in the Room of Requirement, and I’m using it for something, no one else can find it unless they have that same need, right?”

“Correct, Miss Valkyrie!”

“Does anyone else know about this room?”

Dobby shook his head vigorously.  “No, no! For many, it appears only once and they do not see it again, for few realize that it can be sought!” He paused and looked at her when Nora didn’t reply.  “Did Dobby help Nora Valkyrie, Miss?”

Nora smiled as she thought, gazing into the blazing fire.  “Absolutely amazing, Dobby. That’s just what I needed.”

 

When Nora pulled open the door that evening after doing exactly as Dobby had described, everyone’s jaw dropped.

Nora had figured it’d give them the bare minimum--a large space, maybe some torches so they wouldn’t have to use wandlight.  She didn’t expect to see bookshelves filled with tomes covering every topic from attacks to zit jinxes, cushions for practice duels, cabinets of Dark detectors, chairs, tables…

“This is amazing,” Ren breathed as he stepped forward through the door.

“You’ve really outdone yourself, Nora,” Yang said, running her hand along the spines of the books as she perused the shelves.

“It wasn’t really me, though,” Nora insisted.

Everyone else made similar comments as they arrived, fascinated by Dark detectors, or books on the history of common curses, or an encyclopedia of the best prank spells, or even just by examining every other nook and cranny to see if the room had hidden anything else for them to find.

Nora felt her chest swell with pride, even as she tried to hide it.

Once the clock struck eight, everyone looked to Ruby for guidance.  She glanced back at them before standing and clapping her hands. “I hereby call this meeting to order!” she shouted, and everyone quieted down.  “Uh, I don’t really have anything to say besides that. Someone else talk.”

“We need a leader,” Blake said, looking sideways at Ruby.  

“How about Nora?” Ruby gestured to her friend.  “She saved me from a Basilisk and she can cast a Patronus...I kind of think that makes her way more qualified than me to teach Defense.”

Nora blushed.  “Okay, but you made it through the Triwizard Tournament and faced Salem and creatures of Grimm,” she said to Ruby, “so you’re probably better than me.”

“How about we have a vote?” Blake said.  “Everyone close your eyes.” When not everyone obeyed, Blake sighed.  “This is so you vote honestly and don’t turn things into a popularity contest,” she explained.  The second time around, more people complied.

Blake called out Ruby and Nora’s names and counted the hands that went up with one finger tapping the air as she surveyed the room.

“Ruby wins,” Blake called out as everyone opened their eyes.

Ruby looked around, her face finally going red.  Ren raised his hand slightly. “Yeah?”

“I think that naming our group might be a good idea.  That way, we can discuss it outside this room without having to reveal too much about our intentions.”

They spent the next several minutes writing names on the blackboard at the front of the room.  The students suggested everything from the Defense League to the Ministry of Magic Are Morons Association.

But the best idea came from Jaune.

“What about Pyrrha’s Army?” he suggested, “Since we formed this group to stop people from dying like she did.”

People murmured in agreement.

Blake took another vote.  The board was erased, and Pyrrha’s Army written at the top.

“We can call it PA for short,” Ren noted.  “Just to provide another level of obfuscation.”

Ruby scratched the back of her head awkwardly as she thought.  

“I don’t really have a plan,” she admitted.  “Um, how about we start with the basics? Disarming, Stunning, things like that.”

People paired up and began practicing, working on shooting cushions and wands out of each other’s hands, knocking books off the shelves, and knocking each other onto cushions before being revived.

It was chaos.

But one person stood alone.

Weiss Schnee.  

No one wanted to be partnered with a Slytherin.  People avoided acknowledging her except to whisper about why she was there.

Ruby prodded Jaune over to Weiss once she noticed that he hadn’t found a partner either.

“Hey, Weiss.  I noticed you and Jaune both don’t have partners, so…?”  She smiled.

“They don’t want me here,” Weiss said, gesturing with one hand to the people around her.  “They think I’m a traitor.”

“Well, we want you here,” Ruby said decisively. 

When neither Weiss nor Jaune looked certain, Ruby clapped her hands twice.  “Well? Get to work!”

As they stood across from each other and began to practice spells, Ruby wondered what to do next.  If she were a teacher...she’d check to see if people were doing things correctly.

And for the most part, they were.  Yang tended to goad and taunt too much, and her bravado made her careless.  Nora clearly had fun catching her off-guard. Meanwhile, Nora and Ren didn’t seem capable of actually hitting each other, which Yang took good advantage of.  Blake was laughing more than Ruby had ever seen her, giggling every time Ilia knocked her wand out of her hand or helping the other girl up when she Stunned her.

When Ruby finally looked at her watch, she gasped.  They’d gone over by ten minutes.

How was she going to get everyone’s attention over the chaos?

“Hey!”  she yelled.  “Hey, everybody!”  Once people started looking her way, Ruby clapped her hands.  “We went over!” she shouted. “Let’s meet…”

“Remember Quidditch season!”  Angelina interjected.

“I know.  Next week, same time,” Ruby decided.  

Everyone poured out of the room, walking in small groups back to the dorm.  “That was amazing, Ruby!” Yang squealed, jumping up and down. They were alone in the hallway.  “We’re gonna kick ass if we keep it up like this.”

“You weren’t really kicking my ass today,” Ren commented.

“Don’t worry about it, Yang.  He’s just mad that you got him when he was trying to Stun me.”  Nora winked.

And although they argued and ribbed each other, their hearts felt light.  For once, they were doing the right thing.

 

Blake and Ren came up with an idea to allow Pyrrha’s Army more secretive means of communication.  

“So that’s why you kept asking people to give you their extra Chocolate Frogs,” Nora said, fiddling with her card depicting Professor Ozpin during breakfast in the Great Hall the next day.  

“It also helped that for every card they gave me, I would let them stay up ten minutes past curfew.”

“So that’s why all those first-years have been hanging out so late into the evening in the Common Room!”  Nora sounded scandalized. “That’s kind of genius, actually.”

Ruby examined her card too, this one showing an image of Maria Calavera, the greatest duelist of her time.  “These are really neat, Blake.”

Blake blushed.  “Thanks. The cards were Ren’s idea, the Protean charm was mine.”

“Weiss’s eyes looked like they were going to fall out of her head when you said that,” Yang said.  “She couldn’t believe you could already do NEWT-level magic.”

Blake shrugged and traced the wood grain on the table with a finger.  “It just took some extra effort to learn. I don’t know why everyone is making such a big deal out of it.”

“Blake, these things are ingenious!” Reuby exclaimed.  “Everyone has Chocolate Frog cards, and no one’s going to go through the company registry to make sure the cards are legitimate if they’re found.  These are perfect.”

“Stop complimenting me,” Blake muttered, but she was smiling.


	15. Kicked Off

“Let’s kick some butt!” Yang crowed, driving her fist into her palm across her chest.  She and Ruby were the first of their dorm headed to breakfast, and Yang couldn’t wait.

“Slytherin doesn’t stand a chance,” Ruby agreed.

They ate as quickly as they could and headed down to the field to check out the conditions. Yang squinted at the clouds above them, seeming slightly apprehensive.  “I hope it doesn’t rain.”

“You’ve practiced in worse than this.  It’ll be fine,” Ruby reassured her.

“Yeah, I guess…”

They changed, and Angelina stood on a bench in the changing room and gave them a rousing talk, reminding the Gryffindors of their strategies and going down the Slytherin lineup in order to strategically insult each player, a tradition picked up from the previous captain.

Ruby liked it.  Laughing and joking with her teammates loosened her up before a match.

Yang joined in halfheartedly.  Ruby noticed her looking out at the field and the crowd forming above them.

Her sister hid her fear well through jokes and laughter and bravado, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t still afraid.

Despite Yang’s nerves, the game went really well.  Yang blocked the Quaffle more often than she let it in, and Ruby caught the Snitch to end the match.  

And then, of course, came the inevitable party in the Common Room with food stolen from the kitchen and full of excited friends, ready to congratulate the team on their performance.

Yang sipped from her bottle of butterbeer as she surveyed the scene.  “You know, it’s pretty fun to be the one the party is thrown for, instead of the one throwing the party.  I could get used to this.”

But the party couldn’t last forever.  After a few hours, people trickled away to do homework, hang out, nap, or just do whatever.  The decorations went back where they came from and the food had been mostly picked over. Everything quieted down, and Yang’s exciting day had become a normal, quiet evening.  But Yang still felt like she was walking on clouds.

So she decided to go for a walk to try and settle down, maybe head by the library and get some books for her Transfiguration assignment, but mostly just to hold onto the amazing feeling of victory instead of pushing through it to do her work.

She found herself wandering through the fourth floor corridors when she found another person.  Cardin Winchester came around the corner, approaching her from the opposite direction. Yang moved to walk past him, but he blocked her with his body.

“I’m allowed to be in the hallways,” she said.  “It’s not curfew yet.”

Cardin smiled, but it contained no mirth.  “You’re not even worth my time, Xiao Long. Why do you even try?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re clearly fucked beyond belief, it’s almost impressive,” Cardin said.  “But how could you not be? Your mother was killed by her brother and your father just fucked anyone he could find until he got lucky.  After all, that’s the only explanation for why you and Ruby are so close in age, right? Your father is a lying, cheating bastard who runs around pretending to be a superhero in order to cover up for the fact--”

As Cardin spoke, Yang felt her face getting hot.  Tears stung her eyes and her fingernails bit into her palms as her knuckles became pale.  She felt herself begin to shake.

Her father was all she had ever known, the only family they had had until recently.

He was a good man, despite what he had done in his past.

And she’d rather forget her mother, thank you very much.

As Cardin continued on about how pathetic Yang had to be as Ruby achieved everything, as Ruby was better at Quidditch, how Yang looked like a hooker while Ruby looked normal, his voice faded out and Yang’s vision went white with rage.

Then Cardin was on the ground, shouting, as Yang kicked him over and over, for everything he had said.

His ribs, for calling her fucked up.

His gut, for calling her father a liar, and a second time for calling him a cheater.

His hip, for calling him a bastard.

His shoulder, for demeaning her father’s work as an Auror because he knew the truth about Uncle Qrow.

“Miss Xiao Long, what do you think you’re doing?” Professor Port’s voice boomed through the empty hallway, bringing Yang back to herself.  She stopped and turned slowly, her face growing hotter. She trembled. Tears dripped onto her shirt. “This is unacceptable. Go to Professor Goodwitch’s office at once.”

Yang still felt too stunned to move.

“Now!”

Yang walked back towards Gryffindor House.  She looked at her toes.

Her boots were stained with blood.

Professor Goodwitch answered her office door without a word, her lips pursed into a thin, white line.  She sat behind her desk and crossed her legs. “Explain yourself, Miss Xiao Long.”

“Cardin insulted my family!  He called my dad a lying, cheating bastard!  He said--”

“And so you decided to beat him to tears with you bare hands?”

“What else was I supposed to do?”  Tears ran down Yang’s face again. She felt humiliated.

“Get a teacher.  Tell someone. Walk away.  Not resort to violence!” The ice in Professor Goodwitch’s voice cracked and revealed the anger boiling underneath.

“Excuse me,” a voice said from the doorway, surprising both Yang and Professor Goodwitch.  Professor Umbridge stood there, smiling sweetly.

Yang hadn’t thought this could get any worse.

“Would you like my help, Professor Goodwitch?” Umbridge asked.

Professor Goodwitch’s voice froze again.  “I am perfectly capable of disciplining my own students, Professor.”  She turned back to Yang. “The provocation doesn’t matter. What matters is your horrid, vulgar response to it.  For that, you will have two weeks of detention and you will compose an appropriate apology letter to Mr. Winchester.  Do you understand that--”

Professor Umbridge interrupted Professor Goodwitch with a slight cough.

“I think the offense is severe enough that detention is too lenient a punishment, Glynda,” Professor Umbridge said.

“Well, right now you have no authority over my student,” Professor Goodwitch replied.

“Actually, Professor, I do.”  Professor Umbridge reached into her gaudy bag and began to rummage.  “The Minister did just send this today, after all...rather appropriate…”  She pulled out a roll of parchment from her bag and tapped it with her wand to open the seal.  “Ah, here it is. Educational Decree Number Twenty-Five. The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions, and removal of privileges pertaining to the students of Hogwarts, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions, and removal of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members.  Signed Cornelius Fudge, Order of Merlin, First Class...I’m sure you get the picture, Glynda. You’ve always struck me as an intelligent woman.” The comment clearly wasn’t meant as a compliment. “I think this punishment becomes more appropriate if I additionally ban this young woman from ever playing Quidditch again. We can’t have this level of aggression on the field, Professor, now can we?”

Yang sucked in a breath but bit her tongue and didn’t say anything, although fresh tears came to her eyes.

“And because siblings can learn these traits from each other, I think it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Miss Rose to stop playing as well.  After all, we can’t have her in a situation in which Miss Xiao Long might act violently, can we?’ To Yang’s horror, Umbridge actually smiled.  Professor Goodwitch looked like all the blood had drained from her body. Her hands gripped the edge of her desk for dear life. “But the rest of the team can continue to play.  After all, they are not violent hooligans, and I am not unreasonable. Have a good evening, Glynda.”

 

The good day had become the worst day of Yang’s life, save for the day she’d discovered her mother was alive but didn’t care about her.

At least Angelina didn’t yell.

She just looked disappointed, torn apart.  

Somehow, that was worse.

Ruby just walked up to their dorm and slammed the door when Yang tried to follow her, and Yang got the distinct impression that she was no longer welcome in her own bedroom.

She spent the night sleeping on one of the couches in the Common Room.


	16. Hagrid and Umbridge

On their walk to the Quidditch pitch on the morning of the first match, Nora noticed something she hadn’t seen since the previous school year.

Smoke rose from the chimney of Hagrid’s little house and a warm glow peeked through the cracks in the curtains from inside.

Nora nearly screamed as she grabbed Ren’s arm.  “Hagrid’s back!”

Ren looked into the valley next to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and saw the house.  

“We should go visit!”

Nora moved to break away from the group, trying to pull Ren with her, but Ren kept walking forward.  “We shouldn’t go now.”

“Why not?”

“We’re supposed to be at the Quidditch match, and besides, if Hagrid just got back, he’s probably tired.  Let’s let him rest before we come around.”

So after eating lunch at the party, they bundled up against the increasingly dreary weather and made their way down to the tiny cabin and knocked on the door.

“You’re back!” Nora exclaimed and hugged Hagrid as Fang circled their feet and jumped up, barking and wagging his tail.  Nora immediately turned to the dog and began to wrestle with him on the floor.

Ren stood back and stared.  “Hagrid...What happened to you?”

Hagrid’s face was bruised and his hair was matted.  One of his fingers was splinted and he moved gingerly, making Ren suspect other injuries.

“Nuthin’ you need to worry about,” Hagrid said, and Ren followed him into the tiny house as Hagrid filled a kettle with water and placed it over the fire.  “Good summers?”

“Up until I got attacked by Dementors, yeah,” Nora said, pushing Fang off her and sitting up.  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“‘M fine,” Hagrid grunted and grabbed a raw slab of meat that had been sitting on the table and slapped it over his swollen eye, and sighed in relief.  At their curious glances, he explained. “Helps with the stinging.” Then he processed what Nora had said. “Dementors, Nora? Are yeh serious?”

“They showed up at the camp I was helping at,” Nora explained.

“And then she went on the run and vanished until pretty much the end of summer.”  Ren sounded less than impressed with that part of the story.

“That was only because they threatened to expel me and I panicked.  But now that you know what happened to me, what happened to you? Those cuts look nasty.”

“Can’t tell yeh.  ‘S top-secret,” Hagrid said.  He kept having to adjust the steak on his face so it wouldn’t fall.  Fang watched the meat like a hawk, his tail wagging.

“Just tell us!” Nora pleaded from where she pet Fang.

“I’d lose my job,” Hagrid said wearily.

“Did it have anything to do with the giants or the Faunus?” Ren asked.

Hagrid turned to him, and Ren smiled over his shoulder as he measured out the tea for the teapot.  “How d’you know?”

“Lucky guess.”

Hagrid leaned against the table.  “You two are lucky I like you.”

“We won’t tell anyone,” Nora wheedled.  “Not Ozpin, not Ruby, not anyone. We just want to know.”

“We’re concerned about you and we want to help however we can,” Ren said.

Hagrid sighed.  “I don’t have the energy to fight with you guys today.  But promise me--whatever I tell you doesn’t leave this house.  Understand?”

Ren brought everyone their tea and Nora joined him and Hagrid around the table.

“I headed out right after the end ‘o the term, up towards Beauxbatons.  Pretended to have something for Professor Ironwood. Took about a week getting there, hiding in that school.  I had to be very careful, you know. Ozpin and Ironwood, they wanted to make sure to throw anyone that might be watching off my trail.  Anyway, once I got the all clear to go, took me about a month to get up to the mountains to where the Giants live.”

“A month?” Nora exclaimed.

“They might’a been trackin’ me.  Magic can be followed. Couldn’t have a Portkey, couldn’t Apparate, nothin’.  Just had to use my own two feet. Plus, giants don’ trust magic. Wizards use it against ‘em far too often.  They only remember magic as pain.

“Anyway, once it was light, I went an’ did all the diplomacy stuff Ozpin showed me.  Find the Gurf--that’s the leader, the tallest one,” he clarified at their confused looks, “an’ started givin’ ‘im gifts.  One at a time. Yeh gotta build it up, show you keep your promises with this kinda thing.”

“What did you give the leader?” Ren asked.

“A branch o’ Gubrathian Fire, bewitched by Ozpin.  Burns forever.”

“But you said the giants don’t trust magic,” Nora said.

“Not when it’s an attack they don’t.  But give it to them, they love it. So, I gave ‘im the branch, and some other giants translated for me.  Told ‘em who I represent, all that, and promised to come back tomorrow. And I did. Professor Ironwood, he knew what I was doing, had some dwarves forge an indestructible helmet for the trip.  So I gave this to the Gurg the next day and we talked for a little bit, and then I went back the next day to talk.”

A forlorn look crossed Hagrid’s face.  

“What happened?” Ren asked.

“Raiders.  Faunus, from the looks ‘o them.  Burned the entire camp. And after that, there was nothin’ I could do.  The survivors were too scared to talk to wizards or fightin’ amongst themselves to be the next Gurg.  After the Faunus left, I watched. Bloodbath for days. Ain’t nothin’ else I could do after that.”

“How did you get beat up?” Nora asked.  “You weren’t in the fights, were you?”

Hagrid opened his mouth as someone knocked loudly on the door.  He put the steak on a plate on the table and went to answer it.

Nora and Ren’s hearts dropped when they saw the short figure through the gap between Hagrid’s hulking figure and the doorway.  Professor Umbridge stood out in the snow, dressed in an ugly green robe and matching ear flap hat.

Fang stood behind Hagrid, barking and trying to greet the new visitor with great doggy enthusiasm.

“Are you Hagrid?” she asked loudly and slowly, like she was talking to someone intractably stupid.  She didn’t wait for an answer before shoving her way past Hagrid and into the living room. Hagrid, too surprised to say anything, let her in.  Fang tried to jump up on her, but Umbridge swatted him down with her handbag, making Nora gasp as Fang whimpered.

“Who the ruddy hell are you?” Hagrid asked, clearly not happy with the uninvited houseguest.

“My name is Dolores Umbridge,’ Umbridge announced, “and why are these students in your house?”

“They came to visit.”

“Well, that is most inappropriate,” Umbridge said, staring Nora and Ren down.  “Well? Get out!” As they gathered their things, she glared in disapproval. As they left, she stood in Hagrid’s doorway and pointed at them.  “Don’t ever let me catch you visiting teachers in their personal quarters again!”

Once they were sure she woudn’t hear, Nora blew a raspberry into the cold air.  “What a bitch.”

 

Hagrid met the students at the edge of the Forbidden Forest for their first lesson after his teaching hiatus.  After a few days, his injuries had healed some, the cuts scabbing over and the bruises fading to reds, yellows, and greens.

“We’re goin’ into the forest today!” Hagrid greeted the class joyfully.  “Figure you should see these creatures in their natural habitat, an’ you can handle yourselves well enough by now, I should hope!”

As people began to mutter, Hagrid spoke again.  “It’s not gonna be dangerous, don’t get yourself all twisted up.  I’m probably the only person in Britain who’s trained these creatures--”

“But are they actually trained?” Cardin asked, his tone making it obvious he didn’t believe a word Hagrid said.

“‘Course they are.”

Hagrid then proceeded to grab a rotting cow carcass sitting on the ground next to him and swung it over his shoulder before marching into the woods.  The students had no choice but to follow.

“It’s beautiful,” Nora whispered to Ren as they walked across snowy trails and underneath the trees.  Her fingers curled through his, and he squeezed her hand back.

Finally, they reached a clearing in the trees and stopped.  He signaled for the students to stay back near the edge of the clearing before walking forward to dump the cow in the middle.  “Now, the smell o’ that meat should attract them good enough, but I’ll call ‘em anyway. They like to know it’s me.”

Hagrid took a deep breath, raised his hands to his face to amplify his voice, and let out a strange shrieking cry that echoed through the forest and over the trees.  It didn’t seem like a sound that could have came from Hagrid, but it did, and he repeated it twice more.

The students waited in stunned, confused silence.

After a minute, something moved in the forest.  Ruby gasped and grabbed Yang, pointing in the direction of two white, beady eyes.  “There!” The same kind of animal she’d seen pulling the carriage, that same kind of winged horse with its dark, exposed flesh slowly stepped out of the woods, watching the class warily as it went up to the carcass and began to eat the raw meat straight off the flesh.

“I don’t see anything,” Yang said, looking confused.

She wasn’t the only one.  Most of the students seemed mystified as to what they were doing there.

More horses made their way close to the edge of the forest, and some came forward to eat.

“Now, who can see ‘em?” Hagrid asked.  “Put your hands up.”

Ruby raised her hand and looked around the crowd.  So did Nora and Ren. Nora met her gaze.

“‘Course you three can,” Hagrid said quietly.

“What’s going on?” Cardin demanded.  “Nothing’s happening.”

“Just watch the cow for a minute,” Hagrid guided them, and soon, the others began to gasp and talk amongst themselves.  Weiss put a hand over her mouth. Yang’s eyes went wide.

“What the hell?” she whispered.

“Those are thestrals,” Hagrid announced.  “Hogwarts has its own herd--”

Someone shrieked.  

Hagrid gave a slight laugh.  “I said that they were trained, didn’t I?  People are scared o’ them because of all the superstitions that they’re an omen of bad luck, but they’re dead useful.  Smart, too. Now, why can some of you see them and some can’t?”

Ren raised his hand.

“The only people who can see thestrals are those who have seen death.”

“Exactly,’ Hagrid said solemnly.  Then he spotted something through the trees.  “Hello!” he called to the person approaching, waving one giant hand.

Professor Umbridge made her way through the trees.  “You got the letter I sent to your cabin saying I would be inspecting your class this morning?” she asked loudly, speaking slowly like Hagrid couldn’t understand English.

“Yeah.  Glad you found the place all righ’!  Well, if you can see, we’re doin’ thestrals today!” Hagrid seemed thrilled with this lesson.

Professor Umbridge cupped her hand around her ear.  “What?” 

“Thestrals!” Hagrid explained.  “Big, winged horses...you know…”  He flapped his arms.

Nora put her face in her hand.

Professor Umbridge stood right behind them as she took notes.

“Has to resort to crude sign language,” she muttered as her quill scratched the clipboard.

“Now, where was I?” Hagrid muttered.

Umbridge wrote down that he had obvious memory problems.

“Oh yeah!  How Hogwarts got a herd,” Hagrid started, approaching one of the thestrals and patting its neck.  “We started out here with five males and a female in the forest, just moved in and made themselves at home.  This one here, he’s the first born in--”

Professor Umbridge cleared her throat.  “Are you aware that thestrals are classified as dangerous creatures by the Ministry?”

Hagrid waved her off.  “Thestrals aren’ dangerous!  Well, they watch out for themselves, but--”

Umbridge wrote down something about Hagrid enjoying violence.  Nora felt her face redden. She noticed Ren clenching his jaw next to her.

“No--” Hagrid had heard her too, and now looked worried.  “I didn’t mean--well, any creature’ll bite if you hurt it or get in its way, won’ it?  Thestrals, people just think they’re bad because o’ the death thing--they’re misunderstood, that’s all.”

He rubbed the neck of the thestral standing next to him.

“Please continue teaching as usual,” she said in that same loud slow tone she’d used before.  “I will walk around and ask the students questions.”

Some of the other students looked anxious about this.

Umbridge, of course, went around to the Slytherins first as Hagrid talked about the usefulness of having trained thestrals at Hogwarts.

“Do you find that you can understand Hagrid when he speaks?” she said to Weiss Schnee.

Weiss held her head up.  “His diction is unprofessional, but he speaks clearly enough,” she replied in a whisper, her eyes fixed on the vanishing carcass.

Next Umbridge approached Nora.  “Valkyrie, you can see the thestrals, correct?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“Whom did you see die?”

Nora shrugged.  “My mom tried to raise me in a drug house, so probably a lot of people, but I don’t really remember.”

Umbridge glared at her with disapproval. “And what do you think of them?”

“The druggies or the thestrals?”

Umbridge’s scowl deepened.  “Don’t be smart with me.”

“The thestrals are fine, but the druggies were awful.”

Very pointedly, Umbridge did not take notes on Nora’s statement.

“She’s going to twist your words,” Ren whispered.

“Let her,” Nora said.


	17. Heartfelt Conversations

After their last Pyrrha’s Army meeting before break, everyone seemed more than excited to finish up with work and clubs and get out of school for three weeks to rest and recharge.  However, one person hung back.

“Can I talk to you?” Jaune asked Ruby after their meeting, after everyone had cleared out but Yang.

Ruby and Yang exchanged a glance, and Yang got the hint.

Once the door had shut behind her, Ruby turned to Jaune.  “What’s up?”

“Sometimes I just wonder...if Pyrrha knew all this stuff, she would have survived, right?”  But Ruby heard his unasked question too.  _ Is there any possible way Pyrrha could have survived last year? _

“Pyrrha couldn’t have made it to the center of the maze if she hadn’t known all of this.  She did really well. But after that...I don’t know. I really, really wish that there was something, some way.  But I don’t know.” Ruby looked at her feet. “I still think about it a lot.”

Jaune looked straight ahead.  “Me too. I mean, I didn’t see her die--that has to be a lot worse--but that evening she asked me to spend the summer with her family.  She kissed me. I didn’t know that’d be the last time I’d ever talk to her.”

“You should treasure that,” Ruby said, and although Jaune looked at her, she still didn’t meet his eyes.  “She really cared about you and you knew it.”

“I’m glad we’re doing this, Ruby.”

Now, finally, Ruby looked at Jaune again.

“In my first year, when everything was so hard, Pyrrha offered to tutor me.  Now we’re going and learning what we need to know. Stuff more important than lessons.  If Pyrrha were here, she’d join the Army too.”

“You think so?” Ruby asked.

“She would love this.”

Ruby reached over to hug Jaune and he hugged her back.  “Sometimes I get worried that I’m not doing the right thing, or that people aren’t learning, or that I can’t teach.  It means a lot to hear that people are learning, that they think this is right too.”

They pulled away from each other.

“When I said that this was for Pyrrha, I wasn’t joking.  She’d love this. I love it. It’s amazing. She would support you one hundred percent.  And even if you don’t feel like you know what you’re doing, I support you and I believe in Pyrrha’s Army.”

Ruby had to blink tears of sadness and relief out of her eyes before she responded.  

“Thanks, Jaune.”

 

Ilia fell into step next to Blake as they walked back from the meeting.

“Come here for a minute,” Ilia said, pulling Blake into an empty hallway.

Blake followed her.

“What’s wrong, Ilia?”

“Nothing, nothing...just don’t laugh.”  Ilia didn’t meet Blake’s eyes for a moment, but then she raised her gaze and took a deep breath.  “I like you. Like, like like you. A lot.”

Ilia’s skin flared bright red, her hair taking on an orange color.

She looked like she wanted to hide.  “I never should have--”

“No, it’s okay,” Blake said, reaching out to take Ilia’s hand as she raised it to cover her face.  “You’re a Faunus too?”

Ilia nodded.  “I learned to hide it.  Most people don’t know.”

Blake smiled at her.   “I think I like you too.”  And she felt her own face redden.  “I’ve never had a girlfriend before.”

“Me neither.”  Ilia giggled, her skin taking on a more human hue and her hair fading back to dark brown.  “I wanted to tell you before break, just in case...just in case you said no. So that way we could both pretend to forget.”

“Well, now we don’t have to.”

Someone walking past the hallway called to Ilia, and she called back.  “One minute!”

“See you later,” Blake said awkwardly.

Ilia grabbed her hand and squeezed it.  She and Blake were close enough to count each other’s eyelashes.

Ilia leaned in and gave Blake a quick peck on the cheek.

“See you,” she said, pulling away and walking back towards the main hallway, raising one hand in a wave.

Blake waved back, and practically ran back to Gryffindor Tower with a giddy smile plastered on her face.

 

When Ruby got back to her dorm, Yang immediately asked, “Did you get a kiss too?”

“What?”

“Blake got her first kiss,” Yang said, gesturing to their blushing friend.

“Stop talking about it,” Blake muttered.

“From Ilia!” Yang whispered.

“I can still hear you!” Blake grumbled.

“Anyway, what held you up?” Yang asked Ruby.

“Nothing.”  She didn’t feel like discussing her conversation about Pyrrha. But upon seeing Yang open her mouth, she spoke again.  “Nothing happened. He just wanted to talk about Pyrrha, okay?”

“Fine,” Yang said, raising her hands.  “Can’t anyone take a joke around here these days?”


	18. Meeting of the Minds

Near the end of the winter holidays Professor Goodwitch called Ruby and Nora into her office.

Curious, they went.

Inside, Professor Oobleck stood right next to the desk, holding a mug of steaming liquid in his hand.

“Professor Oobleck has a proposal for you,” Professor Goodwitch said, taking her seat behind her desk.

“Yes,” Professor Oobleck started.  “You see, after the events of last year, I’ve begun to do some research into the Darker magics for Ozpin.  And there’s really no nice way to say it, but it’s quite possible that Salem will be able to read your minds.”

“What?” Ruby said, at the same time Nora exclaimed, “No way!”

“Both of you have been exposed directly to a very dangerous piece of Dark magic performed by Cinder Fall.  I don’t think this is the time for taking any kinds of risks. As a result, I have asked Professor Ozpin if I could tutor you in the art of Occlumency and he has agreed that it may very well be necessary.”

“What’s Occlumency?” Ruby asked.

“Being able to shield one’s mind from magical invasion.”  Oobleck lowered his voice. “You both have seen the inner operations of the Order.  Salem would murder to obtain that kind of information. The last thing we need is for there to be any more disasters at Hogwarts, least of all with  _ her _ here.”

Everyone knew he was talking about Professor Umbridge.

“I have approval for you to attend an independent study with me on Monday afternoons relating to historical methods of potion development.”  Professor Oobleck took two slips of parchment signed by Professor Ozpin and handed them to Ruby and Nora, who examined them. “Meet me in my office at six on Monday, and we shall begin.”

He left without so much as a goodbye.

“Don’t lose those papers,” Professor Goodwitch reminded them as Ruby and Nora headed back to the Common Room.

 

Blake ran into Ilia on the last day of the holiday and her first day back at Hogwarts.

She felt herself blushing furiously even before the other girl had spotted her across the library and excused herself from her group of friends.

“How was your break?” Ilia asked Blake.

“Um, good.  And how was yours?”  Blake couldn’t quite seem to get the words out of her mouth now.

“Not bad,” Ilia said, then she smiled, glancing away.  “So, did you see when the next Hogsmeade trip is?”

“No, sorry.  I just got back.”

“Well, the next trip is on Valentine’s Day,” Ilia said.

A heavy silence hung in the air for what felt like an eternity as Blake processed that information.  Ilia didn’t seem bothered, though.

“Would you like to go with me?” Blake asked.  “To Hogsmeade?”

“I’d love to.”  And finally, Ilia blushed too.

 

“You asked out Ilia?” Yang said, leaning over the small table between them in the Common Room.

Blake blushed, not meeting Yang’s eyes.  “It’s not a big deal.”

“Yes, it is!” Yang whispered excitedly.  “You have a date!”

And suddenly, Blake couldn’t hold back from expressing the happiness floating inside her, and began to giggle, which made Yang laugh too.  Before they knew it, they were sprawled in their chairs, gasping for breath as the other students trying to finish up their homework at the last minute glared at them.

 

Nora and Ruby went to Professor Oobleck’s office after class that Monday, both nervous about what might happen.

The room was full of shelves of bottles and ingredients, with books and papers piled around the edges of the room.  Several mugs hung on a rack next to the desk, and many more sat along the edge of the desk, in front of which sat two battered chairs.

Ruby did recognize something strange though, apart from the clutter.

A bowl sat on one of the shorter cabinets, a stone bowl with a substance that looked like liquid moonlight swirling inside.  Although Nora’s gaze passed over it, Ruby’s hung there. That was Professor Ozpin’s Pensive. Why would Professor Oobleck have that?

Speaking of Professor Oobleck, he came in from his classroom a moment later, his arms full of papers, which he somewhat haphazardly set on the floor inside the door.  “Good, you’re on time. Close the door.”

Nora did so, then took the seat next to Ruby’s.

“Here’s how this is going to work.  Only one of you will train with me at a time, as I am not skilled enough at this branch of magic to attack two people at once.  The other will wait quietly in my classroom, staying out of sight, not turning on the lights or making any noise. Ruby will go first and then Nora.”

As soon as Nora had shut the door to the other room, Professor Oobleck had his wand out and stood across the desk from Ruby.

“We will begin now and see what you can do,” Oobleck said.  “Legilimens!”

He’d cast the spell before Ruby could prepare.

Memories flashed before her eyes.  Her and Yang, playing in the yard as children.  Being sorted into Gryffindor. Professor Torchwick summoning the Grimm.  Seeing the raven whom they’d named Morrigan at a pet store. Running back to the castle under the cover of darkness.  Jaune smiling at her in the Room of Requirement--

No, she had to stop this.  She had to resist. No one could know about Pyrrha’s Army.

Ruby became aware of her surroundings again as Professor Oobleck yelped.

“Stinging Hex.  You failed to stop me,” he explained, rubbing a welt on his neck where the curse had just brushed him.  The chalkboard behind the desk now had a black spot in its center.

“Did you...did you see my memories?” Ruby asked.

“Not much coherent.  Alas, that is the drawback of Legilimens, it goes with the flow of the target’s consciousness, which may not provide anything sensible back to the caster.  Now, it’s Miss Valkyrie’s turn, and then we will debrief together.”

Ruby went out to the classroom and sent Nora in.

 

Professor Ozpin cast the spell, and a wave of fear hit Nora and nearly knocked her over where she stood.

Being driven into a corner with a baseball bat as a child.  Having bruises up and down her legs. Watching someone on pills jump out a window.  Being so terribly alone.

Nora screamed, and the assault stopped.  She was on the floor, curled into a ball.  Professor Oobleck looked over her, his lips pursed into a thin, worried line.

He held out a hand to help her up, and Nora took it.  All she felt was shame.

Nora didn’t look at Ruby as Professor Oobleck let her back into the room, and she took the other chair.  

“You both need to practice.  Empty your minds and learn to hold yourselves in a state without emotion or thought.  Learn to stop giving me things I can grab onto and use against you. Miss Rose, I saw what you cared about.  Your sister. Your father. Your friends. I learned where your weaknesses lie, that I have options should I have chosen to strike indirectly.  Miss Valkyrie, I learned what hurts you. I learned how I could paralyze you in a moment, stop you in your tracks. Practice clearing your minds, and we’ll meet again next week.”

Nora and Ruby walked back to Gryffindor Tower together, mostly in silence.  Nora looked at her feet the entire time.

“Are you okay?” Ruby finally asked.

“Yeah.”

Nora knew she didn’t look okay.

Ruby didn’t know what to say to help.  She knew a little of Nora’s pain--having someone poking in your head was a violation of the sanctity of something incredibly personal.  But for Nora, it had been much, much worse, as whatever the spell had dragged up had hurt her, whereas Ruby had merely been scared of her secrets being discovered.

“Let me know if you need anything,” she settled on saying.


	19. A Valentine's Date

When Blake got the Daily Prophet the next morning, her jaw dropped.

“What is it?” Ren asked, leaning over to look.

Blake spread the paper out so everyone could see.  Mugshots lining the page blinked back at them.

_ Hazel Rainart _ , one caption read.   _ Convicted of the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett. _

Under the next photo:   _ Arthur Watts.  Convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to practitioners of Dark magic. _

Another, this one a small waif of a girl.  The caption’s ink had been smeared by the rain outside, but some was still visible.   _ Neopolitan.  Convicted of the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom. _

“Mass breakout from Azkaban?”  Jaune’s voice startled Ruby. She’d been so focused on examining the pictures that she hadn’t noticed him come up behind her.  She jumped.

“Sorry,” Jaune said. 

“Ministry fears Branwen is rallying point for violent criminals.”  Yang picked up the headline where Jaune had left off, then rolled her eyes and looked at the grey sky mimicked on the ceiling above.  “Not again.”

“Unfortunately again,” Blake agreed.

Ren read the rest of the article aloud, for there was no way they’d all be able to see crunched around the front page the way they were.

_ The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that a mass breakout from Azkaban has occurred.   _

_ Speaking to reporters in his office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, confirmed that ten high-security individuals escaped Azkaban early yesterday evening and that he has made Muggle law enforcement aware of the natures of these individuals. _

_ “We find ourselves in the same situation we did years ago when Qrow Branwen escaped,” Fudge said last night.  “There is no way these breakouts are unrelated. An escape so large could not have occurred without outside assistance, and we must remember that Branwen, the first to have made such an escape, would be ideally placed to help his like-minded compatriots escape.  We think it likely that these individuals are rallying around Branwen as their leader. However, we are doing all that we can to round up the criminals. We ask that the magical community remain aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious sightings or events to magical law enforcement.  On no account should any of these individuals be approached.” _

“That is about the dumbest thing I ever heard,” Nora announced.

“Why?” Jaune asked.  Everyone had briefly forgotten that he was out of the loop.

But Ruby saved them.  “If Branwen wanted to get out of Azkaban so bad, why would he go back and risk getting caught?”   
“They’re all douchebags anyway,” Yang said.  “I mean, it’s a pretty safe assumption to make that criminals are douchebags.  Two or three working together would make sense. But I can’t imagine ten getting along well enough not to all murder each other in the process.”

“There’s also an element of risk,” Ren pointed out.  “The more people that escape make the breakout more noticeable and increase the chances of getting caught.”

“I have another idea,” Blake proposed.  “What if this was Salem?”

Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

“Salem is the goddess of chaos and creator of the Grimm, right?  Dementors are part-Grimm. What if she’s controlling the guards at Azkaban and let a bunch of criminals out just to wreak havoc?”

“It kinda makes sense,” Jaune admitted, looking shaken.

“Yeah,” Ruby agreed.

Blake and Ren spread the newspaper between them and looked through it for anything else that might be relevant.

After several minutes, Blake pointed to an article on the page and spoke.  “My dad knew him,” she whispered to Ren.

Ren glanced at the article she was pointing at, explaining the death of Broderick Bode.

“He worked for the Department of Mysteries,” Blake explained.  

“The Department of Mysteries?” Ren asked.

“They work on top-secret stuff,” Blake explained.  “But wow--that’s got to be murder, doesn’t it?”

“It’s definitely suspicious to me,” Ren agreed.

 

Nora ran into Hagrid on her way to her first class.

He was still all beaten up, just like he had been when he first arrived.

“What’s up?” Nora asked, having to jog slightly to keep up with Hagrid as he walked quickly.

“Haven’ seen you lately,” he commented.

But something about Hagrid’s mannerisms seemed off.  He wasn’t as jovial as he normally was, and those injuries…

“Are you okay?”

“‘Course I am,” Hagrid muttered.  “Y’know, the usual. Salamanders got scale rot again...and I’m on probation.”  He said that last part quietly enough that Nora barely heard him.

“What?”

“That inspection didn’ go too well, if you didn’t notice,” Hagrid said darkly.  Then he raised his voice again. “I got to get to the salamanders, or their tails’ll be fallin’ off next.”

And Nora watched, feeling worried for her friend as he walked away.

 

And the day only got worse from there.

After their first class, new signs for an educational decree filled the school, this time banning teachers from talking to students about anything outside of their subject matters.

Hagrid sent Nora and Ren a note telling them not to visit anymore, that it would be too much of a risk and they’d all get in trouble.

They understood all too well that Hogwarts was the only home the three had.

 

School remained bleak through the winter.

Teachers seemed tense.  They whispered to each other in the hallways, passing notes surreptitiously like students.

Students whispered too, but about different topics.  They had questions, but no one could get any answers.

The only bright spot for many was Pyrrha’s Army, as having a way to fight invigorated them and made surviving the oppressive environment possible.

 

On Valentine’s Day, Blake met Ilia at the great oak doors to the castle.

“Hey,” Blake said awkwardly as she approached.  She had no idea what she was supposed to be doing on a date.

“It’s good to see you,” Ilia answered.  “Should we get going?”

“Yeah,” Blake answered.

They joined the line of students waiting to be signed out by Filch.

“Do you want to hold hands?” Ilia asked as they stood awkwardly next to each other.

“Sure,” Blake said, and took Ilia’s hand.  It was cold.

Blake noticed Ilia watching the Gryffindor Quidditch practice over the trees.

“How’s Quidditch going?” Blake asked.

“Good, I think.”  Ilia kept her eyes on the small figures in the sky.  “We’re not as good as Gryffindor, but we’re doing well.”

“That’s good.”

“Did you enjoy the Quidditch World Cup?” Ilia asked.

“How did you know I was there?”

Ilia smiled.  “I thought I saw you, but it was from really far away...might not have been you, though.  Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Blake replied quickly. “It was a really exciting match.”

They talked about the Quidditch World Cup and the attack after the match for much of the walk before slipping into companionable silence.  

“What do you want to do?” Blake asked Ilia once they reached the main drag.

“How about window shopping?” Ilia suggested.  “It’s kinda nice out for February.”

“Sure,” Blake agreed.

But they couldn’t find any window displays to admire.  Every store window was covered in a banner with the convicts’ faces on it, their names, and a statement offering a large reward to anyone with information that would lead to their capture.

“This is boring,” Ilia complained after they’d walked about halfway down the street.  

“It’s like they’re not even trying,” Blake said.

“What?”

“Well, one criminal escapes and we can’t go out at night and everything is being guarded by Dementors.  Ten criminals escape and we’re just told, ‘be careful’ and reward posters are put up. It’s almost like the Ministry isn’t taking this seriously.”

“That is pretty weird,” Ilia agreed.  “Yeah, people seem way less concerned about this than they ever did about Branwen.  And now there’s ten of them, not just one guy.”

They went into Scrivenschaft’s to look at the quills, and they browsed for awhile before Blake found something of interest.

“This one reminds me of you,” she said, taking a quill from a rack.  It looked like a plain black feather, but as Blake handed the glass tube to Ilia, it caught the light from the shop lamps in the right way.  Suddenly, a beautiful rainbow flashed across the barbs of the feather. Slowly, Ilia rotated her hand. The rainbow appeared again, and stayed there.

“It’s gorgeous,” Ilia murmered.  She rotated the quill a few times, examining the rainbow.

“I’ll get it for you if you want it,” Blake offered, holding out her hand.  “Consider it your Valentine’s day present.”

Ilia blushed.  “You don’t have to.”

“I want to.”  Blake took the tube up to the counter, and laid her coins out on the counter, counting out the price told to her by the shopkeeper.  When the shopkeeper handed her the quill in a little gift bag, Blake handed it over to Ilia, who smiled.

“Thank you.”

They walked a little further down the street, holding hands once again.  Blake felt a pleasant warmth in her chest.

However, it started to rain.

“How about we get coffee?” Ilia suggested.  “I know a place.”

“Sure,” Blake agreed.

They walked to a cutesy little tea shop all done up in pink and red for Valentine’s Day.  Tiny cherubs fluttered through the air, blowing confetti over the couples. Ilia and Blake found an empty table near the back, in a nice warm spot.

“What would you like to order?” A waitress came up to their table.

“Coffee, please,” Blake said, and turned to Ilia.

“Same,” she said, smiling.

After the waitress left their table, Ilia turned to Blake.  “Let me get this one.”

“Are you sure?”

“You already got me a gift.”

Blake smiled.  “Thanks.”

Around them, couples kissed and cuddled.  It was kind of awkward to just be sitting across from each other in silence.

“So...what else do you want to do today?” Blake finally asked.

Ilia tore her gaze away from some Slytherins snogging over their brunches.  “I’m more interested in spending time with you than the town of Hogsmeade, to be honest.”

And as the rain pounded outside, they found themselves cozy and warm, both in mind and body.  Although they started sitting across from each other, it seemed as through time drew them closer, for Ilia moved to sit beside Blake at the bench seat and pressed their bodies together.  

“I think I might love you,” Ilia whispered in Blake’s ear.

Blake’s voice caught in her throat.  She wasn’t sure what to say in return.

“I think I might love you back.”


	20. Reoccurring Dreams

Ruby had another strange, terrifying dream, similar to the one she’d had the previous year.  A dream that felt more like an observation than a dream.

Salem sat on a chair in a dark room lit only by one candle.  Ruby didn’t recognize the mustached man kneeling across from her.

“It seems that I have been given bad advice,” Salem said.

“But Mistress--” the man started.

“It’s not your fault, Watts,” she said over him.  “You are certain of the reason for our failures?”

“Yes, of course.  I used to work for the Department of Mysteries.”

“Avery said that Bode was an appropriate choice for the task.”

“With all due respect, Mistress, Avery was wrong.  Bode knew he couldn’t touch the object, and his conviction of such was strong enough that he couldn’t be totally convinced to do it through the Imperius curse.”

“You may stand,” Salem ordered, and Watts stood. Salem stood too and walked over to him.  “We may not be able to regain the time we’ve wasted on Bode, but we can be more effective going forward.  Continue to look for those most vulnerable in the Department and present your strategies to me as soon as you can.”

“Immediately, Mistress.”

Salem nodded, satisfied.

“You may go, Dr. Watts.  Send Avery in on your way out.”

 

Ruby sat bolt-upright, stunned by what she had seen.  Across the darkness of the room, Nora stared over at her, her face pale in the moonlight.

Nora nodded towards the door, and Ruby nodded in agreement.

They climbed out of their beds and into the hallway.

“Did you just dream about Salem too?” Nora whispered.

Ruby nodded again.  “She wants something.  She’s making plans to break into the Department of Mysteries.”

Nora thought for a minute.  “When I went for my hearing, Weiss Schnee’s dad was there,” she explained.  “And Blake’s dad couldn’t really explain why he was just waiting around in the basement.”  She sighed. “I thought this would all stop once we learned Occlumency.”

“Me too,” Ruby agreed.  “I never want to see Salem again.”

 

But she did, in an Occlumency lesson a few weeks later.

 

Nora went first this time.  She’d gotten her fear more under control, she’d learned to push Professor Oobleck back when he got too far, sometimes without cursing him.  

But this time, he stopped the spell before Nora had a chance to resist.

“How do you happen to know about the Department of Mysteries, Miss Valkyrie?” he whispered.

“It was where my trial was,” Nora whispered back.  “Why? What’s in there?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because weird things have been happening related to the Department for months!” Nora hissed back.  “And--” she decided not to mention her dream, “and wasn’t it weird that my trial was held there and not in the normal courtroom?  Plus, it’s called the Department of Mysteries! There has to be something important in there!”

“What is in the department is not your concern,” Professor Oobleck said stiffly.  “Send Ruby in.”

 

Ruby’s session didn’t go any better, for she saw the corridors too, and her dreams of Dr. Watts flashed through her mind.  But this time, the final memory--the door to the corridor opened into a circular room, a room full of doors…

Professor Oobleck stopped the spell for her too.

“We’re done here,” he said abruptly, and called Nora into the room from the adjoining classroom.

“I’m afraid that I may have done you more harm than good,” Professor Oobleck admitted, nervously scratching the back of his neck.  “You both have memories that you should not have in your heads. It’s really quite disturbing, and I think...I think our best course of action is to stop.  Clearly, I am no expert in this subject, and I would never forgive myself if harm were to come to you through my actions.”

“But Professor--” Ruby began, but was cut off by a scream from above.

“What was that?” Professor Oobleck asked.

Nora and Ruby looked at each other.

“Clearly you don’t know, that makes sense,”  Oobleck muttered. “Come on, they could need our help!”

And he ran out of his office, Nora and Ruby on his heels with their wands out.

A crowd had gathered on the stairs from the dungeon to the Entrance Hall.  Oobleck pushed through the students to the top, where people had gathered around the perimeter of the room.

Nora and Ruby could barely see, but they recognized the voices above them.

“I refuse to accept this!” Professor Trelawney shouted.  “This cannot be!”

“You cannot even predict the weather tomorrow,” Umbridge said, and Ruby could picture her sneer in her mind’s eye with perfect clarity.  “No one could have expected you to predict this, even after your increasingly pitiful performances during my inspections.”

“Hogwarts is my home!” Professor Trelawney’s voice cracked, and her voice became stuffed as she began to cry.  “You can’t just take me away from my home.”

“I can,” Umbridge said.  “I did when the Minister of Magic signed for your removal.  Now, pick yourself up, quit making a scene, and leave this place at once.  You’re an embarrassment to yourself and to this institution.”

Nora trembled beside Ruby in anger, and Ruby put her hand on her friend’s arm to stop her from running up there to punch Professor Umbridge.

The sound of heels echoed through the silent hall.  “Please refrain from insulting the staff of this institution, Professor, whether they be current or former,” Professor Goodwitch said stiffly.  “This entire production is quite unnecessary.”

“And why would that be?” Professor Umbridge asked in her faux-sweet voice.

“Because Sybill will not be leaving this castle today,” Professor Ozpin’s voice followed the sound of the majestic doors opening at the front of the hall and a gust of cold air buffeted the room before the doors closed.  “Although you may fire my teachers, you may not leave them homeless, Professor. I am allowing Professor Trelawney to continue to stay at Hogwarts until she finds suitable work and lodgings elsewhere.” A pause. “Glynda, please help Sybil to her room and assist her in unpacking her things.”

“At once.”

Footsteps and the sounds of sobs faded from the hall.

“The new Divination teacher will require her lodgings, Professor,” Professor Umbridge announced.  “And what will you do then?”

“The new Divination professor and I have already made arrangements with regard to that,” Ozpin said. “Allow me to introduce you to Firenze.”

And the sounds of hooves on stone carried through the hall.


	21. Firenze

“What a man,” Yang said appreciatively as she sat for breakfast a few days later.  “Anyone else particularly excited for Divination today?”

“Haven’t decided yet,” Nora announced, then glanced at Ren, who blushed.

“You are the least subtle people on the planet.”  Yang grabbed a pitcher of orange juice and filled her glass.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ren said with a straight face.

“What about you, Blake?  How’s he compare to Ilia?”

“He’s not bad-looking, but not my type.”

“Does anyone actually know where Divination is?” Jaune piped up.

“Classroom 11,” Ren said.  “There was a sign.”

After breakfast, they headed to the new Divination classroom, which had been magically transformed into a small forest clearing.  Firenze stood in the center. The students filing in filtered towards the perimeters, implicitly understanding that this wasn’t the normal classroom arrangement and they wouldn’t need to focus on a blackboard.

People talked quietly until the last person had entered the room, then Firenze began to speak.  His voice wasn’t loud, nor firm, but full of soft power that kept the students enraptured.

“Professor Ozpin has kindly arranged this classroom for us.  It has been designed to mimic my chosen home in the Forbidden Forest.”

“Why can’t you teach us in the Forest?” Ruby asked.

Firenze smiled sadly and shook his head.  “There is no place for Wizarding Faunus who do not trust the Wizarding society to protect our interests.  Those of us with an affinity for the natural settle in the Forbidden Forest, with Hagrid as our only contact with other humans.  In the eyes of the others in my community, I have betrayed them by agreeing to work for Professor Ozpin. But this is not a class on human-Faunus relationships.”  Firenze turned and raised a wand to the ceiling, which darkened. The lights from the windows faded, and the students found themselves sitting in the cool, night air underneath a clear sky filled with stars.

People began to murmur excitedly.  Fireneze spoke over them.

“Lie back and study the stars, for it is there that the fortunes of our races have been written.”

“Professor Trelawney taught us that if we look at it like this, we can see if the alignment of Saturn is in our favor!” Nora squinted up at the sky, measuring the angles with her fingers.

“That is nonsense,” Firenze said.

Nora put down her hands and got up on one elbow to look at him.

“Professor Trelawney focused greatly on the instant gratification to be gained with fortunes, from my understanding of your prior lessons.  However, Divination is more accurate and useful if used for looking through to the longer-term. It is more fruitful to study the stars for months and years to be certain of your path than to gaze into a teacup and declare you’ll have a bad day.”

Firenze paused before beginning the lesson.  “Through the past decade, I have become ever more certain that a war is on the horizon.  Above us, Mars has been shining increasingly brighter…”

And Firenze had them spend the rest of the hour stargazing and learning to burn herbs and read the smoke in order to gain deeper insight into the future to come.

“I like this class,” Ren told Nora as they cleaned up their small fire.  “I think he’s a better teacher than Trelawney.”

“You do?” Nora asked. “But he keeps talking about how much he doesn’t know.”

“I think that’s what makes him the better teacher.  He knows his limitations, so he’s not going to make things up to get us to stop asking questions.”

Before Nora could respond, Firenze called her over.

“Nora Valkyrie, Hagrid speaks highly of you.”

“Um, thanks.”

“I would like you to pass on a message for me,” Firenze continued.  “Tell Hagrid his attempt is not working. He would do better to abandon it.”

“What’s not working?”

“I will not betray his secrets.  If Hagrid wishes to tell you, he may.  But it is not my place. Tell him that the attempt--”

“--is not working and that he should abandon it. Got it.”  Nora finished.

“Thank you, Nora Valkyrie.”

 

Nora and Ren circled back after their next Care of Magical Creatures lesson to give Hagrid the message from Firenze.

“Ah, he worries too much,” Hagrid said, waving them off.  

“Hagrid, are you sure?” Ren asked.  “Does this have anything to do with all your injuries?”

“It’s none o’ your business what I get up to, Ren.”  At their expressions of disbelief, Hagrid’s face softened.  “I’m fine, just trust me on that one. You two of all people should know that there’s more to life than havin’ a pretty face.”

“It’s more the brain, and the bones, and all the stuff under the face we’re worried about,” Nora chimed in.

“You two need to get goin’.”  Hagrid looked out towards the castle.  “Can’t let her catch you down here again.  Good to see you, Nora and Ren.”

Nora looked back over her shoulder with concern as she and Ren walked back to the castle.


	22. Lies

The Pyrrha’s Army meeting during which Ruby asked Nora to teach them about Patronuses was the one during which everything fell apart.

The door opened about fifteen minutes into the hour, but no one came in--and none of the PA members seemed to care.  Perhaps they didn’t notice, or the flying silver creatures gallivanting around the room had distracted them.

Ren noticed the visitor first, for he stood practicing closest to the door.

“Dobby?” he asked, peering down at the House-Elf tugging on his robes.  He knelt in front of the elf, who looked terrified. “Dobby, what’s wrong?”

“Lie Ren...Lie Ren...oh, but the House-Elves were told not to tell!” Dobby sobbed.

“What happened?  What’s going on?” Ren said quietly, grabbing the elf’s arms before he could move to hit or hurt himself, as House-Elves were wont to do when they had disobeyed orders.

“She..she’s coming--”  Dobby hiccupped, looking thoroughly distressed.

Ren knew of only one teacher who caused that reaction in people.  “Umbridge? She knows? About this?”

Dobby nodded, and howled in anguish.

By now, the rest of the room had stopped to stare at them.

“We need to go,” Ren said to the others.  “Run.” When everyone remained standing still, he raised his voice.  “NOW!”

As feet pounded past them, Ren released Dobby.  “Go to the kitchen. If she asks, you were never here and you said nothing.”  And as Dobby raised one fist, Ren added another thing. “And don’t hurt yourself!”

“Thank you, Lie Ren!” Dobby said as he ran out of the room. Ren leapt over him through the doorway.

 

As they all pushed their way out of the room of Requirement, Weiss grabbed Blake’s wrist.  Hard.

“Ow!”  She tried to twist her arm away, but Weiss was stronger than she looked and had a determined glint in her eye.  Despite their struggle, she managed to get Blake behind a tapestry.

“Just trust me,” Weiss whispered, yanking Blake along.  Blake resisted.

“I’m not like the rest of them!” Weiss hissed.  “Would I be here if I was?”

“Then who sold us out?” 

“If you didn’t curse that parchment…”

“Ren did!”

“Then we’ll know soon, won’t we?”  Weiss used Blake’s distraction to drag her out from behind the tapestry and push her to her knees.  A quick spell, and Blake’s hands were bound behind her back. “Professor!” she shouted, and Umbridge turned and strode towards them from the other end of the hallway.

“Close enough to grab,” Weiss said, her expression cold.

“Well done, Miss Schnee,” Umbridge said.  “But I don’t recall you being at the meeting with the other students…”

“Well, you see a bunch of Gryffindors running through the halls without a reason--especially after that Ministry decree--it can only mean that they’re up to no good.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

“Hopefully your brother also has that kind of luck.  Fifty points to Slytherin. Now, I’ll take Miss Belladonna from here.”  Weiss nodded and walked away, leaving Blake to Umbridge’s mercy.

Umbridge dragged Blake to her feet and marched the reluctant girl to the Headmaster’s office.

Blake didn’t understand what was going on.  Umbridge didn’t even knock, she just marched into the office to face a large group of people.

Professor Ozpin stood behind his desk, a mug in one hand.  His expression didn’t reveal his thoughts about whatever was happening.  Coco Adel and another Auror, a Faunus with red hair, stood on either side of the door like guards.  Cornelius Fudge and his assistant stood next to the fire. Fudge looked pleased. His assistant scribbled on parchment.

“She was running out of the meeting when the Schnee girl caught her trying to hide,” Umbridge announced.  “I know you would have preferred to see Rose or Valkyrie...but as a close associate to both of them, Belladonna likely knows what’s going on as well as anyone else in their little clique does.”

“She likely does,” the Minister agreed.  “Now, you know why you are here, Miss Belladonna?”

Blake knew what to say.  She’d been raised by two lawyers.  The burden of proof was on them.

“No.”

“Excuse me?” Fudge asked.

Blake looked him straight in the eye.  “I don’t know why I’m here.”

“You don’t?”

“No.”

“So you are not aware of having broken any school rules or Ministry decrees?”

“No.”

“So you do not know of an unauthorized student organization operating within the school?”

Blake only hesitated for a moment.  They knew something, but not possibly the entire extent.  “No.”

Fudge looked frustrated, but Blake wasn’t the first one to look away in their staring contest.

“Might I suggest fetching our informant?” Umbridge broke the tense silence with her faux politeness.

“Please do.  This girl clearly takes after her father.”

Blake had to bite her tongue to avoid saying “Thank you” and taking the supposed insult as a compliment.  It wouldn’t help her case.

Umbridge left and they waited in awkward silence for her to return.

Finally the door opened and the careful facade Blake had created cracked, for it was Ilia leading Professor Umbridge through the door.  Her skin had turned yellow, and her hair blue. She didn’t meet Blake’s gaze, though Blake glared at her with pure anger and betrayal on her face.  Umbridge patted the traitor on her back, looking more like a smug snake than ever.

“It’s okay,” Umbridge said soothingly, and Blake just felt revulsion at the entire situation.  “You’ve done the right thing. The minister is very proud of your bravery in reporting this to us.  You should be an inspiration to us all. Minister, this is Ilia Amitola. Her parents were caught in that mine accident two years ago.  The poor girl is an orphan. But now, there’s funding available to open the mine...she might finally get some closure.”

“Yes, indeed,” the Minister said solemnly.  “I’m sorry to hear about your parents, and indeed, something must be done to improve the safety in those mines...But we must hear what you have to say.”

Ilia looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.  “You know what, I take it all back.”

“What?” Umbridge snapped.

“I’m--I’m not--no,” Ilia stuttered out.  Tears flowed freely down her face. “I can’t.  I’m so sorry.”

“It must be the grief,” Umbridge said dismissively, any sympathy she pretended to have for Ilia gone.  “Well, I’ll tell it instead. I ran into Miss Amitola after dinner, and she said she had to tell me something. There was a room on the seventh floor, in which there would be a meeting of an unauthorized student organization.  Of course I had to check it out, and it only confirmed my suspicions. If you’ll remember back in October, there was a suspicious student meeting, Minister, back at the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade? Well, I have reason to believe that students were organizing an illegal society in which to learn inappropriate curses and jinxes--”

“The society was not illegal at the time,” Ozpin said quietly, but his voice pierced the room.

“But any meetings since have been illegal,” Umbridge snapped.  “And Miss Amitola can tell us about six months’ worth of those, right,dear?”

Ilia’s eyes were still trained on Blake.  She took a shaky breath. “No.”

“Have you not been going to those meetings for the past six months?”

Ilia shook her head.

“What does that mean, girl?”

“It means that there haven’t been any meetings for the past six months, Delores,” Professor Goodwitch said dryly.  She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, and if her gaze had held magic, every Ministry official in the room would be petrified.

“But there was a meeting tonight!” Umbridge’s temper was beginning to flare.  Her sweet, strict old lady act had faded away. “You told me about it, Miss Amitola!  And your girlfriend, she and her friends are behind it--”

“No, okay?” Ilia shouted.  “Just no. Please.”

“We can discuss the possibility of other meetings at a later time, but for now we should focus on the meeting that happened,” Fudge suggested.

“Yes, of course.”  Umbridge composed herself again.  “Of course, I couldn’t let an unauthorized student meeting proceed without investigating, so I gathered a few trustworthy students to go to the seventh floor.  However, someone must have alerted them, because when I arrived, most of the students had scattered. Miss Schnee brought me Miss Belladonna after seeing her running through the halls with other Gryffindors...with her connections to Miss Rose and the rest of those conspiracy-babbling children, she has to know something!”

“Excellent, excellent,” Fudge said.

“But I’m afraid Miss Belladonna doesn’t know any more than Miss Amitola,’ Professor Ozpin interrupted them.  They looked at him curiously. “For this was my decision.”

“What do you mean?” the Minister asked.

“I was forming an organization of students interested in studying more intensive forms of defense.  Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting. Does that statement count as a confession, or will I have to submit it in writing?”

Blake stared.

Why would Professor Ozpin lie for them?

“No!” Professor Goodwitch snapped.  She knew about the lie too, and must have been just as confused as Blake.

“There are few secrets we keep from each other, Glynda, but this has been one of them,” Ozpin said.

Fudge laughed incredulously.  “It’s incredible. Absolutely incredible.  Professor Umbridge--excellent work! Scarlatina--have you written it down?  Everything?”

Velvet gave a short nod.

“Well?  Get going, girl!  If you get a fast owl, we might just make the morning edition!”

“At once,” Velvet said, before dashing out of the room.

It occurred to Blake that, like Coco and the other Auror, she didn’t look very happy to be there.

After the door slammed, Fudge continued gloating.  “It’s to Azkaban with you now, Ozpin…”

“Perhaps.  But perhaps not.”  Ozpin seemed weirdly calm for someone who was about to get arrested.

Blake felt as if she could barely breathe.  This was crazy. Ozpin knew Qrow, knew what he had gone through  Yet he was totally ready for that to happen to him.

Had he gone mad?  Why did he cover for them?

“What?” Fudge asked, flabbergasted.  “You don’t have any hope of taking on Adel, Alistair, Dolores and I on your own, Ozpin!  Be sensible!”

“It must be my age, but sense is becoming more difficult to find these days,” Ozpin said, sipping his coffee.

When no one moved to do anything to apprehend their criminal, Fudge pointed a fat finger in Ozpin’s direction.  “What are you waiting for?” he barked at the Aurors.

_ Bang! _

A green light and a tidal wave of magic knocked everyone to the ground, knocked them back into furniture and walls. Trinkets and tools and shelves of magical gadgets collapsed, and every window shattered.  Pungent smoke and dust filled the air.

Blake blinked and wiped her face with a hand.  Her cat ears twitched.

Around her, everyone else seemed to be slowly regaining their senses too.  Umbridge shook Floo powder out of her hair and coughed. 

The Minister was the first to leap to his feet, followed by the two Aurors, who had their wands out.

“Where did he go?” Fudge shouted, looking around the tiny office.

“The stairs!” Alistair yelled, and Blake noticed what he had seen:  the door to the stairs swung in and out. Its lock appeared to have been blasted off, leaving a jagged hole where the handle should have been.

He and Coco ran down them without a glance at anyone else.

“It looks like Ozpin’s finally gone and done himself in, Glynda,” the Minister said, walking towards where she’d just stood, brushing off her starched robes.

She glared at him.  Finally, she answered.  “I need to get these girls to bed, Minister.”

And with that look in her eyes, Blake didn’t even dream of challenging her, but stood and went to her professor’s side.  A moment later, Ilia joined her.

Blake didn’t look up from her feet while they walked Ilia back to Ravenclaw, and let Goodwitch pull her along back to her dorm.  Her whole body felt heavy with shock and sadness.

 

Late that evening in the Slytherin Common Room, once everyone else had left, Weiss Schnee pulled a folded piece of paper from her bra.

Looking over the list of names under the title Pyrrha’s Army, she sighed and began to shred the parchment, throwing the pieces into the fire.


	23. New Regime

The next morning, posters proclaiming Umbridge’s new position as Headmistress practically wallpapered the school.

And it was all anyone could talk about, except for Blake, who stayed quiet with her head down.

“I heard that the Headmaster’s office isn’t letting her in,” Jaune whispered to Ruby and Yang in the hallway between classes.  “She’s just locked out, and that’s it.”

“Bet that made her lose her fucking mind.”  Yang smirked at the thought. 

“Even the castle itself doesn’t want to deal with her crap,” Ruby added.

Cardin Winchester passed their little group in the hallway, coming around in front of them and forcing them to stop.

“Looks like Gryffindor needs a small reminder about who’s in charge now,” he said self-righteously.  “Maybe docking a few points might help you remember your manners.”

“Prefects can’t take points, Cardin,” Ruby reminded him.

“Yes, but members of the Inquisitorial Squad can.”

“The what?” Jaune asked.

“The Inquisitorial Squad, Arc.  A selected group of students loyal to the Ministry of Magic.  And we do have the power to dock points, so let’s get to it. Rose and Xiao Long, five points each for disrespecting our Headmistress.  Five more for Rose for contradicting me. Fifteen because you’re all weirdos. Five more for Xiao Long for being related to a mass murderer..and ten for Mr. Arc, for being a mudblood.”  He winked at them. “New head, new times. Get with the program, or get left behind.”

Once he turned the corner, the Gryffindor students turned to each other.

“No way,” Jaune breathed.

“So you ran into him too,” someone said from behind them, and they turned to see Nora and Ren, each wearing dark expressions on their faces.

“It’s bullshit,” Nora said.  “It’s all bullshit.”

 

At lunch, someone tapped Ruby on the shoulder.

Ruby put down her spoon to see Filch smiling over her shoulder.  “The headmistress would like to see you, Rose,” he said.

Ruby’s heart plummeted.  Filch liked seeing the students get in trouble way too much.  And if he was this excited...it had to be bad. Blake hadn’t told them about that night in the Headmaster’s office, the night Ozpin got arrested.  In fact, she’d barely said two words to anyone.

Maybe Umbridge had figured it out.

Maybe she knew Ruby had been behind Pyrrha’s Army.

Maybe she’d found the list of names.

But she couldn’t stew in her own thoughts for too long, as Filch talked to her as they walked upstairs once he tired of whistling to himself.  “Things are changing around here, Rose,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve told Ozpin for years that he’s too soft on you brats.  You wouldn’t make trouble if you were scared of me. Wouldn’t cast spells in the halls if you knew I could string you up by your ankles for it.  Wouldn’t dare throw stinkbombs, like your sister. A good whipping would do her good, if you know what I mean. Well, you tell her that if she ever tries it again, once Educational Decree Twenty-Nine comes out, I’ll be allowed to whip her raw.  Finally, you students will be properly punished...Finally, finally someone’s bringing discipline to this castle…”

Ruby felt anxious, both for herself and Yang.  It wasn’t like her sister wasn’t stubborn to a fault, after all.

Eventually, they got to Umbridge’s office.  She’d hung a plaque on her door, reminding everyone she was the Headmistress, since she couldn’t use the busted-up office in the tower.  A matching plaque graced the front of her desk, in case the visitor had forgotten her position during their last few steps.

“Miss Rose is here,” Filch announced.

“Thank you,” Umbridge said without looking up from the parchment on which she wrote.  Filch left, closing the door behind him, and Ruby stood awkwardly in front of her desk for several moments until Umbridge acknowledged her.

“Have a seat,” Umbridge said, and Ruby sat on the edge of one of the chairs facing the desk.  “Now, what would you like to drink?”

The question caught Ruby off guard.  “What?”

“I asked if you would like a drink.  Some tea or pumpkin juice, perhaps?” Umbridge smiled sweetly.

This was too weird.  “No, thanks.”

“I insist.”  Umbridge waved her wand, and a pale pink teacup with gold leaf accents appeared on the desk in front of her.  “How about some tea? I’ll add a little milk and sugar.”

Ruby watched with bewilderment as Umbridge bustled around in a cabinet, adding fixings to the tea.  But she was suspicious too. Umbridge wouldn’t just be kind to her, not after calling her a liar all year.  And she was focusing way too much on that tea…

Even if she wasn’t poisoning it or something, Ruby wasn’t taking any chances.  When Umbridge set the cup in front of her, Ruby didn’t touch it. Several seconds passed in which they just stared at each other across the desk.

“You should drink up,” Umbridge said.  When Ruby didn’t move, her voice hardened ever so slightly.  “Quickly! Before it gets cold!”

Ruby raised the cup to her mouth, but didn’t open it.  She held the hot liquid against her top lip for a moment before setting the cup back down.

“Okay, I had a drink...but why am I here?” she tried asking.

“Just checking in, making sure you’re well…” Umbridge said, her smile widening, and Ruby’s suspicion increased tenfold.

No way did this have anything to do with the kindness of that witch’s heart.  “Now...where is Professor Ozpin?”

“Why would I know that?” Ruby asked.

Umbridge’s smile vanished.  “I know you and Ozpin have been working together since last year.  Now, stop playing these childish games, drink your tea, and tell me where he is.”

“No clue,” Ruby said, shaking her head.  And for good measure, she raised the cup to her lips again.  “Sorry.”

“Never mind, then. So tell me, where is Qrow Branwen?”

Ruby forced her surprise not to show on her face.  “Don’t you have Aurors to find criminals? Why am I supposed to know where he is?”

Umbridge leaned in.  Ruby could smell her sickeningly sweet perfume.  “I’ll remind you, Miss Rose, that I very nearly caught Branwen in the Gryffindor fire last October while he met with you, and if I had enough evidence to formally charge you, you would not be sitting here today.  But be warned...if I find something…”

“I don’t know where he is,” Ruby said firmly, not breaking her gaze away from Umbridge’s, practically daring the headmistress to look away first.

Umbridge leaned back after several seconds.  “I will believe you this time, Miss Rose, but know this: the Ministry is watching you and your friends’ every move.  Every fire in this castle, except for my own, is monitored by a Floo Network Regulator. All your mail, incoming and outgoing, is read by my Inquisitorial Squad before it is distributed.  If I see anything…”

Before she could finish her sentence, the entire office shook.  Screams carried through the castle. Ruby looked around anxiously as Umbridge grabbed the edge of her desk to stabilize herself.

“What was that?” she muttered, throwing open her office door.

Ruby used her distraction as an excuse to set the cup on the floor and kick it over.

“Out with you, Rose!” Umbridge snapped as she turned around, just as Ruby had sat upright again.  She ran into the hall, and Ruby grabbed her bag and followed, making her way down to the Great Hall.

Pandemonium had broken out during lunch.  Someone had released magical fireworks into the Great Hall and they flew around the room, generally making messes as they knocked things over, causing multicolored explosions when they came into contact with candles, and forcing students to run and duck to stay out of their way.

The teachers tried banishing them, tried Stunning them, tried every basic spell that should have made the damn things go away, but at best, the spells didn’t work.  At worst, they multiplied the fireworks and spread them further, taking advantage of every window, open door, and poorly-concealed passageway.

Apart from Umbridge and Filch, none of the other teachers really seemed bothered by the disruption, even though the fireworks interrupted their lessons and threw their classes into disarray as people dove to avoid sparklers spelling out swears and giant Catherine wheels.

“Mr. Ren, please get the Headmistress in here to banish these things,” Professor Goodwitch said, her tone clearly one of boredom as she extinguished a stack of essays that had caught fire from a purple dragon.

And the students shared grins, for by the end of the day, the Headmistress had stopped looking so high-and-mighty with her singed hair, bags under her eyes, and scorched robes.


	24. Get Back Up

Blake saw Ilia again for the first time since that fateful night as she walked to the library.  Blake walked right past her without saying a word, or even looking at her. She didn’t deserve it.

“Blake, wait!”  Ilia jogged to catch up with her.  “We need to talk.”

“We really don’t.”  Blake said. “You sold us out, and that’s all there is to it.”  She kept walking.

“I made a mistake!” Ilia pleaded.  “Please! I just wanted them to bring my parents’ bodies home.  Wouldn’t you do the same thing?”

Blake thought for a minute.  “Not if it meant putting others in danger.”

“But we didn’t get in trouble--’

“Because Ozpin covered for us!”

Ilia crossed her arms over her chest.  “You’re no better than me. Don’t think I haven’t figured out what you and Ren did to that parchment.  So, tell me: is anyone going to ever trust me again?”

Blake let the words hang in the air.

“Hopefully not,” she muttered, then pushed past Ilia.

She’d wasted enough time already.

 

Finally, Yang caught Blake alone in their dorm, and upon doing this, shut the door.  “So, Ilia sold us out.”

Blake glared at her.  “Yeah. So what?”

“So we got lucky.  I think everyone knows that.  But what Ilia did...it could have been way worse.’

“What are you trying to say?”

Yang sighed.  “I’m just gonna be blunt: It’s not your fault, so get your head out of your ass.  You thought she was a good person when you dated her, and maybe...maybe in some ways, she still is.  Umbridge did manipulate her. But no one got seriously hurt, and everyone got away. Weiss Schnee, she destroyed the list, did you know that?  That stopped Umbridge from going after anyone else besides you, and that’s only because Weiss made sure someone she trusted not to do anything stupid went into that meeting.    So it’s not your fault, and Ilia’s not a great person. We know you feel bad. So you can get over it.”

“But I trusted her, Yang.  I made that decision. I even thought...I even thought that I might love her.  And it’s not like what we did was a victimless crime...Ozpin’s in Azkaban. Umbridge got power.  Pyrrha’s Army is over. She won. And it’s my fault. If only I’d just been there for Ilia more, maybe I could have--”

“You can’t take back the past.”

“Of course not--”

“So stop trying.  Pyrrha’s Army worked, Blake.  It worked really well. And I’ve talked to Ruby about this, and she agrees that we need to move on.  We need to keep going, especially now that Ozpin’s not around. We need to be the ones ready to intercept Salem when she comes.  And we need you to be there to do it with us.”

Yang reached out a hand. Blake took it.

 

“So, why aren’t you in the Inquisitorial Squad, sister?”  Whitley ambushed Weiss as she did her work next to one of the giant windows looking out into the depths of the lake next to the castle in the Slytherin Common Room.  A candle enchanted to never burn down illuminated the book from which she took notes.

“I turned her down,” Weiss said, not looking up at her brother.  “I have my OWLs to focus on, and I’m already a Prefect. I spend enough time chasing down first-years and keeping this place in order as it is.  I don’t need to spend my free time wrangling Gryffindors too.”

“I heard Umbridge never offered you a position anyway.”  Whitley’s smile looked like it could have easily belonged to a shark.  “How did you know what was going on that night that little club was caught when you didn’t even come to her little meeting?  She thinks you’re up to something, but she doesn’t have enough evidence to prove it.”

Weiss pushed herself away from the table.  “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Since when is a bunch of Gryffindors running through the hallways like lunatics ever a good thing?  It was my responsibility as Prefect to figure out what was going on and to restore order, and I knew Belladonna was in on it, otherwise she would have been acting like a Prefect and not running away like she was guilty too!”  Weiss turned back to her studies. “Father probably won’t be happy to hear that you’re spending more time gossiping with Cardin and his cronies than studying, Whitley….”

Weiss didn’t have to look up to know her brother had left in a sulk.

She’d very narrowly evaded being exposed.  Because she hadn’t been asked. Was that why?

Either way, her father could never find out.


	25. Career Counseling

All of the fifth years had their career advice sessions that spring, which meant that their Easter break was spent poring over pamphlets and their progress reports from the year, narrowing down careers or expanding their horizons.  

When the list of career counseling meetings was posted outside Professor Goodwitch’s office, Nora audibly moaned.

“How am I supposed to be counseled on my career if I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do?” she asked Ren.

“Tell the truth?  I think they’re supposed to help us choose our careers, Nora, not just validate our own opinions of what we should be.”

“But we should already know which OWLs we’re going to take!  There’s only a couple weeks until the exam!”

As Ren dragged her away from the notice board so the other students could see, Ruby glanced at Blake.  “She’s got a point, you know.”

 

Yang was the first one to have her career counseling, and she reported back at lunch on the first day back from break.  She didn’t seem that happy about it.

“I told Professor Goodwitch I’d like to be an Auror, but she says I don’t have the grades for it.”  Yang rolled her eyes. “Like grades matter after you go through the training.”

“They matter a lot to help you get into the training, though,” Ren pointed out.  

“Did you have a backup plan or anything?” Nora asked.  “What did Goodwitch suggest?”

Yang shrugged.  “Apprentice monster hunter, if I wanted the adventure, otherwise see what OWLs I get and go from there.”

“Did they tell you what happens if you don’t get the OWLs you want for your career?” Jaune asked, leaning over the table so he could be seen several seats down from Yang.  

“You said you were interested in working with Muggles,” Ruby interjected, “which you only need Muggle Studies to do, which you could pass without even taking the class.”

“Yeah, but just in case.”

“No, she didn’t say.  Just ‘we’ll work with you’, and ‘there’s something out there for everyone’.  All that kind of wishy-washy stuff adults say when they don’t think they can tell you you’re royally screwed without coming off like massive jerks.”

“You’re not screwed, Yang,” Ruby said.  “Two more years left, and like you said: once you find something and get the training, grades don’t matter anymore.”

Blake smiled across the table at her.  “You’re seriously overthinking this, Yang. Just like Ruby said, we have two more years.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

It was what Yang needed to hear, because she leaned back in her chair and the conversation turned to other topics.

 

Weiss, unknown to Yang, had her career counseling appointment the same day.

She walked into Professor Oobleck’s office, careful to appear calm, collected, and ready.  This was the moment of truth for the rest of her life, and she’d chosen carefully.

“I’d like to work for the Ministry,” Weiss said, her hands folded on her lap.  

Professor Oobleck nodded.  “For you, an easily achievable goal.  Any further ideas about which positions you’d like to pursue?”

Weiss thought for a moment.  “International affairs. I think it’d be very interesting to work with wizards from around the world.”

“Okay, let me see…” Oobleck dug through the stack of papers on his desk.  “For a Ministry position, you’ll need at least six OWLs, and of those, I’d recommend you take at least Charms and History of Magic.  Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense wouldn’t be bad choices either, doesn’t hurt to demonstrate well-rounded magical abilities...Arithmancy, if you’re interested in any position that might involve numbers…”

“And how do my chances look so far, Professor?”

Oobleck went hunting through a desk drawer, pulling out stacks of files and placing them on his desk before he found the one he was looking for.

“Schnee...Weiss Schnee.  Here we are.” Professor Oobleck flipped through the pages.  “Well, for the subjects I’ve recommended, you seem to be doing well.  Outstanding in Charms, Exceeds Expectations in History of Magic...and in Potions and in Transfiguration, another outstanding in Arithmancy...Acceptable in Defense…”  Professor Oobleck shut the file. “Keep studying and you’ll have your pick of NEWTs next year. I don’t see any problems that need addressed right now. Any questions?”

Weiss stood.  “No, thank you very much, Professor.  I look forward to advancing into your NEWT class.”

“It will be a pleasure, Miss Schnee.  Although one more thing.”

Weiss paused in gathering her things.

“You have great potential.  Don’t allow others’ expectations to get in your way.  I believe that if you choose to do something, you will become perfectly capable of doing it if you are determined enough.”

Weiss smiled.  “Thank you, Professor.”

 

Ren had his counseling session during Potions, and when he returned to the Common Room, Nora dragged him over to the corner where she’d been studying for their Defense quiz.  “How was it?” she whispered. 

“Nora.  The whole point of the meeting is not to determine the rest of your life, only which classes you’ll take next year.”

“Which then determine the rest of your life!”  Nora flopped dramatically over the desk, knocking her book off.

Ren sighed as Nora fetched her book.  “Do you trust me?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just answer the question.”

“Yes, I trust you.”  Nora answered immediately.

“Then trust me that it will be fine, even if you still don’t know what you want to do.”

 

Blake’s career appointment had an unexpected guest in the form of Professor Umbridge.  She stood in the corner of Professor Goodwitch’s office with her parchment and quill and Blake couldn’t shake the unsettling feeling that she was being evaluated too.

“I think I’d like to take after my parents,” Blake told Professor Goodwitch.  “I don’t know if I’d want to be a lawyer, but I would like to advocate for the magical Faunus.”

“Well, the most obvious way would be through the Ministry, but there are also a number of nonprofits which do similar work, as I’m sure you’re aware,” Professor Goodwitch said.  She pulled several fliers out of a folder. 

“The Ministry would not be a place for a girl like you, Miss Belladonna,” Professor Umbridge said.

“I think Miss Belladonna will be successful regardless of where she decides to work,” Professor Goodwitch said decisively.   “Now, while your magical abilities are important, many of these places value your communication abilities above nearly everything else, therefore, which OWLs you take are going to be less important than the fact that you must do well on them.  For any other student, I would recommend doing only as many OWLs and NEWTs as you are certain you can do well in, but your grades have been consistently high.” Professor Goodwitch shut the folder and looked up at Blake. “I trust for you to be able to determine where your strengths lie, Miss Belladonna.  Your maturity is impressive for a girl your age.”

And with Professor Goodwitch, that was high praise.  “Thank you, Professor.”

“Now, if only the rest of your friends worked as hard as you do...Send the next person in on your way out, if you don’t mind.”

And as Blake left, she sent Jaune in.  To her surprise, Professor Umbridge followed her down the hall a little ways.  Once they were away from everyone else, she spoke. “Just so you know, dear, the Ministry would never accept your application.  Those departments dealing with Faunus relations are getting smaller every year.”

Blake bit back the scathing response that rose in her throat, and took a breath before responding.  “That’s okay. I’d rather work somewhere else anyway.”

And she turned down the nearest hallway before Umbridge could follow her.

 

Jaune saw Blake leave, followed by Umbridge, and glanced after them.

“Is she in trouble?” he asked once the door to Professor Goodwitch’s office had closed.

“Hopefully not.”  Professor Goodwitch neatened some papers on her desk.  “Now, have you put any thought into your future career yet, Mr Arc?”

Jaune had to think before he spoke.  “I was thinking...maybe Muggle relations...or Healing...okay, I don’t really know.”

“Let’s see where your strengths lie.”  Professor Goodwitch opened a folder and scanned though its contents.  “You’ve never taken Muggle Studies--”

“But I’ve lived with Muggles for pretty much all of my life, so I’d probably be able to pass the test.”

“And your grades in nearly every subject required for Healing are lacking thus far.  You need NEWTs in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense, and your grades in those subjects thus far for this year are…”  Professor Goodwitch paused to flip through her folder. “Dreadful, Poor, Acceptable, Acceptable, and Acceptable.” She closed the folder. “Not to mention that the competition for Healing apprenticeships is quite intense, and you’ll need to make top NEWTs to even have a chance.  I suggest you start to think about other careers, Mr. Arc.”

“So which exams should I sit for, then?”

Professor Goodwitch gave him a slight smile.  “All the core subjects, of course, but study hard.  If you pass into NEWTs for any of your major classes, your options will still remain open.  And you will need to study, Mr. Arc. The NEWT classes do not coddle you, and don’t accept any excuses.”

“Can I also take the Muggle Studies exam?”

“In most of your classes you’re just nearly passing as is.  You’d be setting yourself up for failure if you didn’t focus on making sure your spell work was solid and improving your Potions work.  I would very strongly advise against adding an extra exam to your workload.”

“But what if I could do it without letting any of my other classes suffer?”

“You haven’t even taken the class.”

“But I have lived with Muggles!”  Jaune felt confident about this. “I know what their schools are like and how their technology works because I grew up with it.  Isn’t that a better way to get to understand the world than reading about it from a textbook?”

“Perhaps.”

“So then let me take the exam.  The way I see it, it’s just one extra shot to be successful, and if I don’t do well, then it doesn’t mean I wasted any time if I didn’t study for it.”

Professor Goodwitch’s eyebrows climbed her forehead.  “Let me get this straight. You plan to take an exam for a class you haven’t attended and you don’t plan on studying for it?”

“Well, you said if I did it, I couldn’t fall behind in my other subjects.  So if I don’t study for it, I have more time for my other work.”

Professor Goodwitch shook her head.

“Please?” Jaune asked.

Professor Goodwitch sighed.  “Fine. But be aware that your teachers next year will not just be looking at your achievement in their classes, but how you’ve done overall.  Teachers only have so many spots in their NEWT classes, and there are more students than spots.”

Jaune nodded.  “I understand.”

“Then I’ll get you in to take the test.”

 

Ruby had her meeting during Divination, and for once, she wasn’t glad to miss the class.  Now that Firenze was there, her death wasn’t predicted every other day and they had real work she could fall behind on.  Plus, it was interesting learning how the people in the Forbidden Forest lived off the land.

“I want to be an Auror,” she told Professor Goodwitch, not even turning to look at Professor Umbridge, who stood in the corner glowering at Ruby.

“I suppose it must run in your family, Miss Rose.  Your sister said the same thing,” Professor Goodwitch said.  “And I’ll tell you what I told her. Auror training is very selective and intense.  To even be considered, you must be at the top of your class. Then, once you’re in, you need to continue studying and putting a good deal of time into preparing for your exams.  If you are certain you want to be an Auror, you need to have known that yesterday and already begun preparing.”

“Blake’s been helping me study, don’t worry.  I’m going to need Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration…anything else?”

“Potions.”

Ruby groaned in exasperation.

“You need to be able to recognize poisons and create antidotes.  Aurors need to be versatile with their magic. And Professor Oobleck doesn’t accept anything less than an O on your OWLs for his NEWT-level course, so keep that in mind while you study.”

“What about for Transfiguration?”

“I prefer students to have E’s.  Now, your grades. You already know that you’ll need to work on Potions and Transfiguration--that P and that A both need to improve for you to have a comfortable chance of progressing into the NEWT classes.  But you have an E in Charms, good work, and Defense--”

“It’s that pink note right there, Glynda,” Professor Umbridge said.

Professor Goodwitch immediately put it to the side without looking at it.  “You’ve got a knack for it, Rose.”

“But she has done quite consistently poorly in my class,” Professor Umbridge said.  “I’d rather say she doesn’t have the knack for Defense, nor does she have the right temperament to be an Auror if her history of making up hysterical lies is to be believed.  You’re only giving the child false hope.”

“Miss Rose has more than proven her abilities to work under pressure and think on her feet, I have no doubt that she’ll pass the character tests.  As for her schoolwork--” Professor Goodwitch glared at Ruby over the golden rims of her glasses. “You’ll put more effort into studying, Rose?”

“Definitely,” Ruby said. 

“But the lies!” Umbridge protested.

“If Miss Rose did lie, which I am certain she knows she should not do, then that would be a matter for the Auror Office and their examiners to deal with.”  She turned to Ruby. “You may go, Miss Rose.”

As Ruby grabbed her bag and walked out the door, the argument inside the office began to escalate, but she didn’t stick around and risk getting caught eavesdropping.

 

Nora had to wait anxiously until after everyone else she knew had gotten their counseling before she had hers, and she’d almost managed to convince herself that it wouldn’t go badly.

“Well...I don’t really know what I would like to do,” Nora admitted when Professor Goodwitch asked the fateful question.  “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Miss Valkyrie.  Let’s see where your strengths lie.” Professor Goodwitch looked over the contents of a folder for a few minutes. Nora fidgeted in her chair.

“You seem to particularly excel in Care of Magical Creatures and Defense Against the Dark Arts.  Professor Xiao Long was thoroughly impressed by you.” Professor Goodwitch sat back. “I don’t see you sitting behind a desk all day, Miss Valkyrie.  I suggest you look into careers involving nature and the world around you as you go into your NEWTs. Now, about your upcoming exams--”

“That’s it?”

“That’s what, Miss Valkyrie?”

“You’re not going to tell me what to do?”

“You’re the only one that can make that choice.”

And even though she didn’t have any more answers than when she’d walked into the office, after her meeting, Nora felt like she could walk on air (but only if she aced her exams first!)

 


	26. Exams

As the tests drew closer, the studying became more intense.  Fifth years studied everywhere and in every way they could--by reading over notes while walking to class, practicing spells on nearby objects in their spare time, and by setting up camp in any quiet place they could possibly find.  Madam Pince had to stop people from sneaking books out of the library after closing time. In Gryffindor Tower, Blake pushed back quiet hours for two hours if the other students could just keep the Common Room quiet while Ren confiscated many fake intelligence potions and other scams a few older students decided to offer.

Despite their animosity, Umbridge put Professor Goodwitch in charge of informing the students about their exam schedules and procedures.  “You will take your OWLs over the course of two weeks,” she announced as she walked amongst the rows of students, handing out schedules, “having your Theory exams in the mornings and your Practical exams in the afternoon, with the exception of your Astronomy Practical, which will be at night.”  She finished handing out the schedules before marching back the front of the room, her heels clicking with every step.

“Now, for those of you who think you’re clever, the exams are charmed against cheating and you’ll find a list of banned items on the back of your schedule.”  The sounds of flipping papers filled the room for a second. “And for those of you that think you’re sneaky, the entrances of the Great Hall will be charmed to detect these objects, so don’t bother attempting to take them in.  The Headmistress has asked me to tell you that cheating will carry harsh punishments, as of course, your behavior and achievements reflect on her.” People began to mutter. “However, your exam scores still reflect your knowledge and work ethic, both of which will help determine your future, so please do your best on these exams.  And before you ask, you’ll get your scores in July.”

And just as the bell rang, the class erupted into conversation and speculation.

 

Their OWLs began with their Charms exams next Monday, one grueling theory test followed by the dreaded practical exam.  

Tuesday held Transfiguration in store for them.

Wednesday, most people felt Herbology went well.

And on Thursday, the members of Pyrrha’s Army felt especially confident on their Defense Against the Dark Arts exam.

 

Nora was one of the last to go for her Defense practical exam because they called the participants in alphabetical order.

She walked nervously across the room to a small old man, Professor Tofty, who lead her through the exam exercises, which Nora felt she did pretty well on.  But at the end, he had something more to say to her than, ‘you may go’.

“Miss Valkyrie, I attended your trial last August, and I must say--”

Nora felt anxiety rise in her chest.  She knew that even if she thought she’d done well, this guy could still fail her for being a criminal or something.

“I’d like to see that Patronus of yours, if you don’t mind.  I’ll give you a bonus point or two for your trouble.”

Nora relaxed and smiled.  SHe felt acutely aware of Professor Umbridge’s eyes drilling holes in her shoulder blades.  “You got it.” Nora centered herself and brought her excitement about the end of the year and the end of exams to the front of her mind.  “Expecto Patronum!”

The winged horse formed from the end of her wand and ran a lap around the room.  Every other exam stopped for a moment to watch as the silver horse flew before dissolving into silver mist.

“Absolutely spectacular!”  Professor Tofty whispered, smiling in amazement.  Then he raised his voice to a normal volume again.  “Very well, Miss Valkyrie, you may go!”

And Nora, still channeling the happiness from casting her Patronus, skipped out of the room, right past Professor Umbridge, whose scowl deepened.  

Nora winked at her.

 

In fact, nothing of any note happened until Wednesday night, the evening of their Astronomy exam.  Everyone’s nose was pressed too hard to the grindstone to make trouble, or to even notice it.

 

The cool, clear night air felt like a godsend after spending most of each exam day cooped up in hot classrooms, and Ruby smiled up at the stars.  Yang joined her. “We’re almost through,” she said.

“Just a few more tests,” Ruby replied, and they went to join Blake where she was setting up her telescope.  As everyone arrived, took their places, and set up their equipment, and their precise locations on the Astronomy Tower were taken so that their charts could be more carefully examined for accuracy.  Once that was completed and the exams were handed out, the lead examiner stood in the center of the circle of students and announced, “Please begin.”

The squeaking of telescopes being adjusted and the sounds of quills writing answers and scratching them out began.

The exam proceeded as normal for the first hour and a half or so.  The teachers walked amongst the students to check that they weren’t cheating and a countdown of the exam time was called out.

Then, a dog’s bark carried through the air.  The examiners glanced at each other, but no one said anything, nor cared.  It could just be something in the Forbidden Forest after all.

 

Nora wasn’t focused.  A group of people had just walked into Hagrid’s cabin--the barking dog was Fang.  But what were they doing out at midnight?

She watched closely, abandoning her telescope.  Behind her, one of the examiners coughed quietly, a subtle admonishment to get back to work.

Nora wanted to show Ren what was going on, but she couldn’t.  Talking would get them both thrown out of the exam, and while she didn’t think Astronomy was that interesting--mostly because she kept sleeping through the night lessons--Ren was totally focused on noting the positions of every celestial body he could clearly identify.

After a few minutes of seeing nothing, Nora cautiously returned to her telescope and star chart.

“Twenty minutes to go,” one of the examiners called.

The sound of wood breaking burst out through the tense silence, and Nora jumped, poking herself with the telescope, but she brushed it aside, not caring that she’d have ruined the alignment, and watched the ground below.

Almost everyone around her was doing the same.

Hagrid stood outside his hut roaring with anger as figures surrounded him, shooting jets of red light at him.

“Come quietly and we won’t have to hurt you!” A man’s voice shouted.

“Yeh can’t hurt me anyway!”

“Is that Dad?” Ruby asked.

“I can’t tell.”  Yang’s lips were pursed into a thin line. “I think it is.”

Nora watched someone hit Fang with a Stunning Spell, and the dog collapsed.  She put her hand over her mouth. 

Hagrid picked up the man that Stunned Fang and threw him across the grounds.  He didn’t get up. Someone screamed.

He took down three others the same way, using pure brawn and anger.  One of the remaining figures was pulling the smallest figure back as Hagrid picked up Fang in his arms like a baby and ran for the gates to the castle grounds.

Nora felt so angry she was shaking.

“Ten minutes to go,’ Professor Tofty called halfheartedly.

But no one seemed to care about finishing the exam anymore.

 

“That was absolutely despicable,” Ren said as they walked back from the exam.  His hands were balled into fists at his sides.

“But why Hagrid?” Jaune asked no one in particular.  “He’s actually gotten a lot better at teaching over the past few years!”

“He’s part-Giant,” Blake said darkly.  “She hates anyone that’s not a human.”

Meanwhile, Ruby and Yang seemed quite shaken that one of the Aurors might have been their father.  They walked together, as close as possible, and whispered, both looking anxious. 

In the Common Room, everyone stayed up into the early morning, all concerned about Hagrid.  Even the people in the castle had seen the commotion outside, and more of the story came together:  Umbridge had been firing Hagrid and yes, their former teacher had been there.

“How could Dad even go along with this?” Yang slammed the door behind herself and Ruby once they were alone in their room again.  “It’s all so messed up.”

“He’s a spy for the Order, he can’t act like anything’s out of the ordinary,” Ruby said.  “All he can do is try to minimize the damage.”

“And look what that did!  Now he had to hurt Hagrid--his friend, and maybe he got hurt too.”  Yang hung her head. 

Ruby put her hand on her sister’s arm.  “If he was badly hurt, we’d know.”

“I know.  I just wish he didn’t have to take those kinds of risks.”


	27. Dreams and Insights

Plenty of people fell asleep during their last exam, History of Magic, because they’d been up late after Hagrid’s arrest.  It wasn’t a subject most people wanted to do NEWTs in anyway, so most of those asleep didn’t feel too badly about it.

But when Ruby fell asleep, she dreamed.  

Unbeknownst to her, Nora had also fallen asleep.

 

Ruby saw Cinder Fall run through the familiar hallways of the Department of Mysteries, her feet not making a sound on the cold stone floor.

 

As she ran further into the maze of rooms, her dark hair grew and turned lighter.  Her arms elongated, and the whites of her eyes turned black. Her skin went from china-pale to bone-white with red veins snaking across it.  Nora followed her into a room filled with glass orbs on numbered shelves.

 

Ruby followed Salem as she slowed down around shelf 80, watched as she looked down both sides of each shelf until she reached shelf 97.  She turned on its far side, and Ruby turned too, following her down the aisle of glowing spheres, all neatly arranged and labelled on shelves.

 

Nora noticed that someone was lying on the floor at the end of the aisle, but she couldn’t see who they were.  The light was too dim.

“Retrieve the orb,” Salem commanded the figure.

When the figure didn’t move, Salem raised one hand.  “Crucio.”

 

Ruby closed her eyes and put her hands over her mouth as the person screamed and writhed like a puppet connected to electric wires.  She knew how it felt. She knew, and it was one of the worst memories of her life. She had to do something.

“I’m waiting,” Salem said.  She tapped her toe and the sound echoed through the chamber.

 

The figure on the floor was still conscious, though.  Nora couldn’t believe it as he pushed his torso off the ground, leveraging himself on shaking arms.

 

Ruby gasped.

 

“Not a chance, bitch,” Qrow whispered, a defiant smile splitting his bloodstained face.

“It’s unfortunate that you still haven’t learned.”

Then Salem turned.  She looked Nora in the eye. 

 

She met Ruby’s gaze.

 

And both girls jolted awake.

 

There was no way either one of them could focus on their tests after that, but it wasn’t like they could look up from their work, lest they be accused of cheating.

Ruby clenched her fingers around the edge of her desk.  They were hurting her uncle, and by the time the exam was over, it might be too late.

And Salem had known that she was there, Ruby could feel it, that gaze had been intentional.  Had she spotted Nora too?

Ruby raised her hand.  One of the examiners came over.  “Please can I use the bathroom?” she said, doing her best to look anxious.  The little old man waved Mrs. Barchbanks over to her desk.

“This young lady needs to use the restroom, if you’ll accompany her, Griselda?”

“Of course,” she whispered.  “You won’t get any extra time for this, so be quick.”

Ruby followed Mrs. Marchbanks out of the room and to the restroom, where she waited for a few minutes before coming back out.  “You know, I’m not feeling well,” she said. “Can I go to the infirmary?”

“If you want to forfeit the rest of your exam, yes.”

Ruby didn’t even have to think about her answer.  “Sure.” And once Madam Marchbanks had turned the corner, Ruby straightened up and jogged towards Gryffindor Tower.

 

Nora caught up with Ruby a few minutes later.

Ruby hadn’t even been sure if Nora would make it.  After all, she couldn’t use the same excuse, even though the exam was nearly over.  It’d look too suspicious. 

“Nora!” Ruby exclaimed under her breath.

“Once you left with that lady, I told Professor Tofty that I got my period, and, well, you know how weird guys get when you talk about that stuff.  Then I added that I hadn’t studied...and he let me go out of pity, I think.”

They went to Professor Goodwitch’s office, but found it empty.  She wasn’t in her classroom either--in fact, a sign on the door in Umbridge’s handwriting said that all Transfiguration classes had been cancelled for the day.

“Not her too!” Nora groaned.  

The sounds of voices rose from below.  The exam must have let out.

“We need to regroup,” Ruby decided.  “Get Ren and meet me in Myrtle’s bathroom.”

Nora saluted before running off past Ruby, her longer legs making it easier for her to cut through the crowd.

 

After Nora pushed Ren into the bathroom and slammed the door, Ruby started talking.  “Salem has our Uncle Qrow,” she explained.

“What?” Yang demanded.

Ren looked at Nora.  “The one I told you about,” she clarified.

“Nora and I had dreams about it in the exam,” Ruby continued.  “We’ve been having weird dreams of Salem for months and we know she’s been focused on the Department of Mysteries.  It’s a really long story, but I’m pretty sure…” Ruby paused for a second. “I’m pretty sure we saw it as it happened this time.”

“Agreed,” Nora said.  “It was too weird.”

“And there’s too much at stake to just ignore it!”

“We saw everything,” Nora confirmed.  “There’s this giant room full of snowglobes filled with blue light stuff.  Salem went in there and tortured him, saying he needed to get something. It’s just like that weird dream Ruby had last year, and we know that actually happened because Salem came back.”

“Professor Ozpin had a theory that we ended up connected to Cinder because we wrote in the journal she cursed,” Ruby continued. 

“Anyway, the place they’re holding him has to be the Department of Mysteries,” Nora said.  “I recognized the outer hallways in dreams earlier this year--they held my trial there to try and make it impossible for me to show up.  Anyway, we know Qrow is down there, and we know where. We just have to get there, which is the hard part.”

“Have you tried talking to Goodwitch?” Blake asked.

Ruby shook her head. “She’s not here.”

But Yang was pale.  “How’d Salem get Uncle Qrow?” she asked.  Everyone looked at her. “Grimmauld Place is locked down as tight as possible.  Unless Ozpin tells you where it is, you can’t find it. So just as important as finding Uncle Qrow,” Yang’s eyes flashed, “is finding out who betrayed us.”

“It wouldn’t be Ozpin,” Blake argued.  “Unless he passed on the secret to someone else.”

“But why would he do that?”

“So that way he wouldn’t be forced to share it under Veritaserum?”  Blake sighed and glared at the ceiling. “I don’t know enough about the spell.  But what happened happened and we can’t undo it. We just need to figure out what we can do before it’s too late.”

“Or maybe Uncle Qrow just left and got caught,” Ruby said, not meeting anyone’s gaze.  “He hates that house, and without us to talk to, and everyone being busy with work and school, it must be really lonely.”

“But Salem has proven capable of sneaking undetected into the Ministry,” Ren countered.  “She could have had her pick of less-conspicuous Order members. But she chose Qrow. Why?  That would require a lot more work than an ambush.”

“Maybe it has to do with my mom,” Yang said quietly.  “She’s as deep into Salem’s cult as anyone can get. Maybe she knows that Uncle Qrow knows something Salem needs to know, but doesn’t know what.  Maybe he knows something she doesn’t want anyone to know, and this just kills two birds with one stone, if you know what I mean.”

No one had anything to say to that.

“The first thing we need to do is figure out whether or not your dreams were true,” Ren said, and held up both hands as Ruby and Nora began to protest.  “If she’s messing with your minds and trying to lure you into a trap or get you to do something stupid, you’re going to be playing right into that. The best way we can make sure this all goes right is to make sure it’s what we need to do before we do it.”

“We don’t have time!” Ruby shouted.

“We also don’t want you dead!” Blake snapped.  

“Umbridge’s office will be her blind spot,” Ren said, rubbing a finger along his jaw as he thought.  “After all, she knows everything in this castle--she’s self-assured enough that she wouldn’t think there was any reason the Ministry should be looking into her.”

Nora caught on.  “But an owl with her personal owl will be too slow!”

“Not an owl,” Ruby said.  “Her fireplace. We can do a Floo call!”

“What?” Nora and Ren asked together.

“Just go with it,” Blake said.  “We’ll show you sometime.”

“We’ll need to draw her out…” Ruby thought aloud.  “Okay, got it. Yang and Nora, you need to draw Umbridge away. Keep her distracted as long as you can.  I can sneak in and make the call.”

“Ren and I can guard the hallway,” Blake volunteered.  “Someone let off garroting gas or something. I confiscated some off a few seventh-years that wanted to release it during our History of Magic exam,” she explained. 

“Okay.  Let’s go,” Ruby said.  “For Qrow!”

“For Qrow!”


	28. Infiltration

The hallway took forever to clear, but finally, Blake and Ren gave the go-ahead and Ruby picked Umbridge’s office lock with the knife Qrow had given her for Christmas that year.

Once she was in, she relocked the door and searched for the Floo powder, finding it in a stupid-looking gold box on the fireplace.  She threw some in, and barely waited for the flames to turn green before thrusting her head into them.

“Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!”

Her head spun for a moment before coming to a dizzying and sudden stop in the empty kitchen.  She had a nice view of the cold stone floor and the table legs, but couldn’t see anyone.

“Hello?  Dad? Qrow?  Anyone?” she called.

She paused and heard the faint sound of footsteps.

“Who’s there?”

Kreacher rounded the corner into the kitchen and jumped with delight or curiousity at the sight of Ruby in the fireplace.  “The Rose is in the fire,” he said, running one dirty and ragged fingernail across her cheek. Ruby struggled not to flinch.  “What is her head doing in the fire, Kreacher wonders. Has it fallen out of the frying pan?”

“Tell me where my uncle is,” Ruby demanded.

“Master is gone, Ruby Rose!  Out, out, out!”

“Where?”

Kreacher laughed and laughed, as if Qrow being gone was the funniest thing in the world.

“Tell me where!” Ruby pleaded, but the elf ignored her.  She switched tactics. “Who else is there? Get me someone else.”

“Nobody here but Kreacher, Kreacher and his Mistress…”

“Okay, then where did he go?  Kreacher!” Ruby shouted. “Did he go to the Department of Mysteries?”

“Master will not return from the Department of Mysteries,” Kreacher whispered gleefully.  “And now Kreacher is alone with his Mistress, once again…”

And still giggling, Kreacher ran out of the kitchen.

Ruby actually growled in frustration, but at least they now knew the dream was probably real.  But before she could act on this information, something yanked her roughly by the hair and pulled her jarringly out of the fire, bending her neck to an uncomfortable degree.  She could feel rings digging into her scalp as she looked up into the face of a very angry Professor Umbridge.

“Do you think I’m stupid, little girl?” Umbridge whispered through clenched teeth.  “After those Nifflers, I put Stealth Sensoring spells in my office just to prevent these kinds of intrusions.”  She looked away from Ruby for a moment. “Take her wand.”

A hand came from behind her and reached into her robes to grab her wand.  

“Now tell me why you are in my office.”

“I wanted to oil my broom.”

Umbridge’s fist tightened around Ruby’s hair.  “Lying girl,” she hissed. “Your head was in my fire.  Clearly, you were talking with someone. Who?”

Ruby looked Umbridge dead in the eyes.  “No one.”

Umbridge pushed Ruby away from her and she landed on her back on the floor, where she could see Whitley Schnee twirling her wand between his fingers and looking as smug as a snake.

“Stop lying.”

Just then, the door to Umbridge’s office opened and more members of her Inquisitorial Squad entered, each holding someone who had been involved in their little plan.  Each of them had been bound, gagged, and tightly held. And then Cardin Winchester walked in, pulling Jaune along beside him.

“We got them all,” Cardin said, seemingly ignoring Blake struggling in his grasp.  He jerked his chin towards Jaune. “And when he tried to stop us, we took him too.”

“Very good,” Umbridge said, before turning back to Ruby.  “So, you stationed lookouts around my office and sent your sister and your little friend to tell me that Peeves was in the Transfiguration department...but how could he have been in the Transfiguration department when he was building a tower of telescopes on the Astronomy Tower?”

No one said anything to that question.

“Clearly, you needed to speak with someone very badly to go to such lengths.  Professor Ozpin, perhaps? Maybe Hagrid? Or was it Professor Goodwitch? But I doubt that, she’s currently at a hearing at the Ministry of Magic for subpar performance and insubordination…”

Umbridge smiled at Ruby.

“Very well,” Umbridge decided.  “I gave you the opportunity to speak of your own free will, but if I have to drag it out of you, I will.”  She turned to Whitley. “Fetch Professor Oobleck, please.”

After the door shut behind him, the room filled with silence.  It was a stalemate--If anyone tried anything, Umbridge and her squad would hurt them and make their lives hell.  And if Umbridge hurt them...well she could make any claim, no matter how ludicrous, and people would just accept it as fact.  Either way, the Gryffindor students could not come out on top in a confrontation, and they knew it, one way or another.

Finally, Professor Oobleck arrived, followed by Whitley.  He didn’t show any reaction to the restrained students surrounding him.  “You wanted to see me, Professor?”

“Ah yes.”  Umbridge smiled at him.  “Another bottle of Veritaserum, if you would?”

“Ah, I’m afraid that’s an issue,” Oobleck said awkwardly.  “You took my last bottle to interrogate students when Ozpin was sacked.”

Annoyance crept into Umbridge’s voice.  “But you can make more, can’t you?”

“If you’d like it next month, yes.  But if you need it now, there’s no way.  Can’t rush these things, I’m afraid.”

“A month?” Professor Umbridge protested. “But I need it now, Oobleck!  These students were sneaking around in my office!”

“Yes, these particular Gryffindors have a history of sneaking around where they aren’t supposed to be.”  He still wasn’t acting very bothered by her actions. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to start working on a double batch of Veritaserum.”

But this just angered Umbridge more than anything.  “You are on probation!” she shrieked, and Professor Oobleck raised his eyebrows, looking at her with the same interest one would show a particularly unique flower.  “You are deliberately interfering with my ability to discipline students! Now get out of my office!”

“As you wish,” he said, but Ruby saw her chance and took it.

Oobleck, after all, was in on the Order.  Ozpin had wanted him in since the beginning.

“There’s a bird in the basement of the Ministry!” Ruby shouted.

“What nonsense is she talking about?” Umbridge demanded.

“Seems to be just that,” Professor Oobleck said with a shrug.  “Nonsense. Well, I’d better be off…” And he walked out of the room, closing the door behind himself.

Umbridge sighed.  “This goes beyond schoolyard antics...this is interference with the Ministry...I’d rather not do this, but you leave me no choice.  Perhaps the best way to do this is the Cruciatus Curse.”

Yang tried to shout through her gag.

Blake, too, began to shout behind her gag, but her eyes and body language didn’t show fury like Yang’s did.  They showed desperation.

“Thrush, take off her gag,” Umbridge ordered, and Russell obeyed.

“I have to tell!  I have to!” Blake said.  She sounded like she was going to cry.

“No!” Ruby cried.

“Shut up!” Blake yelled.  “I can’t do this anymore.”  She cast her eyes to the floor. “Ruby was trying to talk to Professor Ozpin.  She was supposed to try as many places as she could think of on Diagon Alley and in Hogsmeade.  And I’m going to guess that she didn’t find him, because Professor Ozpin’s not stupid enough to just hang around public places when there’s an arrest warrant out for him, not like some other criminals.”  Her tone made it obvious she was referring to Qrow. “But we had to try. He’s been working on something time-sensitive. And it’s finished.”

“What’s finished?”  Umbridge’s eyes gleamed with greed.

“The weapon.”

“Professor Ozpin’s been making you develop a weapon?  To use against the Ministry, I presume?”

“Yes.”

“And what kind of weapon is it?”

“To be honest...I really don’t know.  It uses principles of magic that we haven’t covered in our lessons, and I can’t find much about it in the library either…”

“Show me.”

Blake’s eyes flicked to the Slytherins.  “Not with them around.”

“You are in no place to be setting conditions, girl.”

“It’s only practical they don’t see.  If they knew where it was or how to use it, they might use it on you.  Once you have it, it will be safe.”

Umbridge seemed to seriously consider this.

“Fine,” she said.  “Just you and Miss Rose.  She’ll act as collateral. If there is no weapon, there will be hell to pay…”

Blake let the threat hang in the air for a second.  “I understand.”

“Perhaps we should still come--”Cardin started.

“Someone needs to watch the rest of the troublemakers, Mr. Winchester.  Don’t make me regret giving you that duty.” She looked at Russell. “Take Miss Belladonna’s wand and release her.”

Russell reached into Blake’s pocket and took the wand before pushing her away from himself in disgust.

Blake stood there, looking expectantly at Umbridge.

“Well?  Lead on.”


	29. Fatal Forest

Blake showed them out the door and headed into the Forbidden Forest like she knew exactly where she was going.  Which she couldn’t...because there was no weapon. Ruby had no idea what Blake had planned, or if she even had a plan.  But she was sure acting like she had one.

Blake kept up a relentless pace through the poorly-maintained, barely visible paths Hagrid had created through parts of the forest.

When Umbridge tripped over a log and fell into a mud puddle cursing up a storm, Ruby finally had an opportunity to ask Blake what on Earth she thought she was doing.

“It’s going to work,” was all Blake could whisper back.

They kept walking.  Blake started a running commentary of their path.  “I think it’s left here...look, there’s a brook! No, ew!  Spiderweb!” She said everything abnormally loud, and the fact that all this was an act was painfully clear to Ruby, but Umbridge couldn’t possibly have been able to pay enough attention to the timbre of Blake’s voice to figure it out.  She wasn’t in shape, and she certainly wasn’t young, and she was even shorter than Ruby. She stumbled and cursed her way through the forest, struggling to keep up.

“Why are we so loud?” Ruby whispered again once they’d gotten a little ways ahead.

“We need someone to hear us,” Blake replied.

The next time they came to a fork in the trail, Ruby joined in.

“You’re going the wrong way!”

Blake’s eyes widened in genuine surprise before she recovered.  “No, I’m pretty sure it’s the other way!”

“You’re just going to take the Headmistress in circles?  Is that what you want?”

“No, your path is the one that goes in circles!”

“Fine, we’ll take your stupid path!”

They continued marching until the trees were so thick they blocked out the sun.  

“How much farther?” Umbridge called.

“We’re close,” Blake called back, and they emerged into a small clearing.

Then a knife flew past Umbridge’s head and she screamed.

Ruby whirled around.  A ring of Faunus had formed in the brush, some with more traditional weapons like bows and knives, and some holding wands made of twisted tree branches.

A man with twisted horns curving out of his dark hair approached carrying a sword.  “Who are you?” he demanded.

Umbridge whimpered and he focused in on her.  “I asked for your name,” he said in a low, threatening voice, his sword held ever so slightly out from his body.

“Dolores Umbridge!” Umbridge whimpered.  “Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Headmistress and High Inquisitor of Hogwarts!”

“The Ministry of Magic?” the man asked.

Umbridge’s voice shook less as she continued to talk.  “Correct! And that means you need to be careful, as the laws governing half-breeds--”

The man raised his sword so it pointed at Umbridge’s chest and narrowed his eyes.  “What did you just call us?”

Umbridge, however, didn’t seem to care.  “As creatures with near-human intelligence--”

The man shifted his grip on the sword.  “You come into our home and insult us--”

“You only live here because wizards permit it!”

The man began to walk forward, forcing Umbridge backwards until she hit a tree and could go no further.  The rest of the Faunus subtly followed the shift in formation.

“I think you’re mistaken.”

“Filthy animals!  What do you--”

But her rant faded to a gurgle as the man drove his sword into her chest, cracking through her ribcage and slicing roughly down through her stomach.  Blood poured out of the incision, followed quickly by viscera. Umbridge’s eyes widened and she seemed like she was struggling to breathe, but only blood came from her mouth and trickled down her face before she collapsed into a heap.

Ruby had unconsciously grabbed on to Blake.  Blake seemed frozen in place. Ruby didn’t even know if she was breathing.

The man pulled a cloth from his pocket, wiped the blood from his sword, and sheathed it again before turning around.  No one else seemed alarmed at what had just happened.

He turned to Ruby and Blake.

“And what should we do with them?” he asked the crowd.

“We have made a promise not to attack the children,” a woman’s voice said from above.

“They lead her here!” another protested.

The arguments fizzled out just as quickly as they had begun when the leader raised his hands, before turning to point to Blake.  “One of the children is one of our own. We should see what she has to say.”

Everyone turned expectantly to Blake, who hadn’t expected this from her stunned reaction.  “Um...we really, really needed her gone.”

The facade she’d put on to lead Umbridge on a wild goose chase had vanished.  Blake was terrified and too wired to come up with a convincing story.

The leader walked over and bent over so that his face was next to Blake’s.  “So you think you’re better than us? That you’re one of them just because you live in the fancy castle?”

“No!”

The man backed up and thought for a second.  “You will not be permitted to leave without payment,” he decided.  “You are old enough that you knew what you were doing, even if you didn’t know she would die.  You came onto our land, and you put blood onto our soil, and you gave us the responsibility of cleaning up your mess--” he gestured to Umbridge’s body-- “so what will you give us in return?”

“We don’t have anything,” Blake said quietly.  “Not with us.”

“Then you will have to do.”

“What does that mean?”

“You made us take a life.  For that, a fair punishment will be for you to give your own.”   
Blake backed away.  “No. No way.”

“Oh, it doesn’t have to be today.  After all, you and your little friend are both still children in the eyes of the law.  So I will be kind and let you leave. But if you ever return, or if I ever see you again…” He smiled hungrily.  “You’re mine.”

And with that, he turned and walked towards the opposite end of the clearing.  The Faunus amongst the trees and hidden around the edge of the clearing had gone back into hiding, although Ruby couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

“Creepy,” Blake said.  “We need to get out of here.”

She held Ruby’s hand as they pushed their way through the thick undergrowth.  It was cold and clammy.

They had only gone a little ways before they heard a voice.  “Finally!”

Blake spun around and pulled Ruby close.  Ruby tensed, ready to run.

Yang’s bright hair stood out against the dark trees as she pushed her way over to them through the brush, followed by Nora, Ren, and Jaune.

“You’re all right!” Yang hugged Ruby and Blake quickly.  “Now, how are we getting to London?”

“How did you get away?” Ruby asked as Yang handed her and Blake their wands back.

“Jaune’s charm and my good looks,” Yang said smiling, but Ruby noticed the scratches on her arms and a bruise beginning to form on her cheek.

“Where’s Umbridge?” Jaune asked, peering around.  

Blake and Ruby paled.  They looked at each other, but didn’t say anything.

Finally, Ruby spoke again.  “Uncle Qrow wasn’t at the house.”

“Then we’re running out of time,” Ren said.  “And we don’t have any way of getting there.”

Yang rounded on Ren.  “We can’t just let him die!” 

“No one’s letting anyone die!” Ruby shouted.  “At this point, we need to try anything that we can think of.  Maybe we can get some brooms from the Quidditch shed, or maybe get out of the castle grounds and see if someone in Hogsmeade will Apparate with us…”

“Or maybe we could take the thestrals,” Nora said.  She had turned away from the rest of the group to observe skeletal horses slowly heading towards the clearing where Umbridge had been killed.  “Hagrid said they’re trained.”

To most of the group, she stared off into space.  Blake’s jaw dropped as she followed Nora’s gaze. “I can see them,” she whispered to Ruby.

“They’ve all been heading in that direction,” Nora said, taking the lead, “and I’ve seen more than six, so we need to get going before they finish whatever meal they found.”

She headed forward, not even attempting to find a path before forging her own, moving all too enthusiastically towards the clearing for Blake and Ruby’s liking.  They stayed together, near the back of the group.

“What are they eating?” Yang asked.  She watched strips of flesh being torn from thin air.  “Wait. Is that...is that…”

“The Faunus did that,” Blake said quietly.  “She challenged them.”

“Damn,” Nora whispered.

“And now they want to take Blake as their slave and we need to get out of here!” Ruby exclaimed.

Nobody really had anything to say about it, except for Jaune, who gestured in the direction of the corpse.

Ren put his hand on Jaune’s arm.  “Maybe Ruby is right. We should discuss this later.”

“One question about the thestrals,” Jaune said.  “How are we expected to ride something we can’t see?”

The thestrals were tall anyway, so they all had to help each other get on--first getting Jaune and Yang onto their invisible mounts, then boosting Ruby up before Blake helped Nora and Ren up.  Once everyone else was on a thestral, she pulled herself onto one’s back much more easily than the others had.

The thestrals didn’t even seem bothered by their unexpected riders.

“And now how do we get them to go?” Yang asked, gripping her thestral for dear life. 

“Hagrid said they were smart.  Maybe if we just ask..” Nora took a breath.  “Take us to the Ministry of Magic!”

The thestrals began to jog, then canter, then gallop, and just before they hit the trees at the other side of the clearing, they took off.

 

The ride took several hours at least.  The afternoon sun faded into a sunset, then the sun dipped below the horizon.  Finally, the sky went dark.

However, the opposite happened beneath them, for the longer they flew, the more lights they saw on the ground.  First, isolated houses, farms, and businesses, the occasional car. Then, the buildings clumped together to form villages, which merged into towns.  Finally, the towns grew into cities with skyscrapers and bright lights, and everyone knew that they had to finally be getting close to London.


	30. Battle at The Ministry of Magic

They touched down in an alley, between brick walls covered with graffiti, overflowing dumpsters and battered trash cans, and one lonely, abandoned phone booth.

“There’s no way this is the Ministry of Magic,” Jaune said after they had all dismounted.  “It’s just London.”

“It’s the visitor’s entrance,” Nora explained as she approached the phone booth.  Blake ran and caught up to her.

“I know the code.”

Everyone else followed her in, and they forced the door shut.  They nearly had to stand on each other’s toes, and although they’d just started to warm up from hours in the frigid slipstream, it quickly became too hot with all of their bodies so close together.

“Welcome to the Ministry of Magic,” the box said.  “Please state your name and business.”

Blake thought for a moment.  “Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Ruby Rose.  Someone in the Ministry needs our help.”

“Thank you.  Please attach the badges to the front of your robes.”

The badges came out of the coin return, and silently, they passed them around.

“Rescue Mission?” Ren asked when he saw the badges.

“We better hope we’re rescuing someone,” Yang said.

“Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and to present your wand for registration at the security desk at the far end of the atrium.”

“We don’t have time!” Ruby told it.

“Fine,” Blake said.

The telephone box started moving downwards like an elevator.

“You just have to agree with it,” Blake whispered.  

When the doors opened at the bottom, everyone tried to move out at the same time, and Ren, Nora, and Jaune ended up in a heap on the ground.  They stood and brushed themselves off, and Jaune paused to take everything in. 

“Wow.”

Nora grabbed his hand and pulled him along.  “Come on!”

No one was in the atrium, nor at the security desk. Blake began to feel that this was a bad sign.

They took another elevator to the Department of Mysteries and stepped out into the dank, quiet hallway that ended in the black door that Nora and Ruby had seen so often in their dreams.

“Maybe someone should stay here as a lookout…” Jaune suggested.

“We’re going to need everyone we can get on this one,” Nora said.

Ruby smiled at him, and Jaune nodded.  “Let’s go.”

And they went through the black door.

The chamber that followed was large and circular, with torches in sconces between black doors, which surrounded them on all sides.

The door had been straight ahead in the dream, right?

But in the moment Ruby paused to make a choice, the wall rotated, shifting each of the doors and thoroughly disorienting her.

“Of course the room rotates,” Jaune grumbled.  Then, louder, “Anyone know how we came in?”

“I get the feeling that’s the point,” Ren answered.

“I guess we just have to pick a door and try it,” Ruby suggested.  “Unless all the other rooms are identical too, I think I remember what the next room looked like.”

“It had a bunch of lights in it, right?”

Ruby nodded.

“Then we’ll both recognize it.”  Nora walked confidently over to a door off to her right and pulled it open.  

“Is it the right one?” Yang asked, peering over their shoulders.

“Nope,” Nora said.

Ruby shook her head in agreement.  This one just had a lot of glowing things in greenish tanks.  Not the same kinds of lights.

“We need to keep trying,” she said, but Blake stopped her before the door could close all the way.

“We need to mark it so we don’t waste our time.”  And using her wand, she drew an X on the door with a small, violet flame, which soon faded, leaving the mark scorched into the door.

The next room they tried after the circular room had rotated again had what looked like a courtroom inside, but instead of a spot for the defendant or a gallows, it held a shimmery sheet on a scaffolding.

“Creepy,” Nora said, and they shut that door quickly, marking it before the room could spin again.

The next door happened to be locked, and although Ren and Blake debated the merits of various unlocking spells, Nora and Ruby pointed out that they could get through all the doors in the dreams, meaning it most likely wasn’t the one.

That didn’t stop Blake from leaving a special marking on it, just in case.

The next door had the right kind of light, and Ruby knew immediately.  “This is it!” she cried and ran through, ignoring the fact that it was filled with brilliant clocks.

This time, it was Jaune dragging Ren along as he stopped to examine them.

Ruby pushed open the door at the end of the room, and the others had to run to catch up with her.  “Unc--!”

Blake had grabbed her and put a hand over her mouth.  “We don’t know if anyone else is here,” she whispered.

Ruby nodded and Blake released her.  “Sorry.”

“Where do we need to go?” Yang looked around.

“Number 97,” Ruby said.

They crept down the passage between the two rows of aisles, one side labeled with even numbers, one side labeled with their odd counterparts.

“Here,” Blake said, and they peered down the narrow passageway between shelves 95 and 99, checking both sides.

“It’s too dark to see properly,” Ren noticed.

“We’ll have to get closer,” Ruby decided.  “Come on.”

They crept down the small aisle, everyone with their wands at the ready.  Yang ran her free hand over the orbs, knocking clumps of dust off of them.

No one had been down here in a long time.

She noticed that each one seemed to glow differently.  Some let off a strong, vibrant blue light that could be seen in the gaps between the shelves.  Others glowed more dimly. Some gave off only the faintest light, but others sat there dark and dead.

When they reached the end of the aisle, they regrouped.

“He was right here!” Ruby said, gesturing to a spot about three-quarters of the way down the aisle.  “Right, Nora?”

“I was pretty sure.  But even if he wasn’t in that exact spot, we’d have seen him.”

“Salem must have taken him somewhere,” Yang said.  “We need to keep looking. Ren and Nora, you go right.  Jaune and Blake, you go left. Ruby and I will look down the other side.”

Nora nodded and grabbed Ren’s hand.

“Let’s meet back at the door,” Ren suggested.

The groups split off to go their separate ways, and Ruby and Yang walked back down the aisle.

“I sound crazy,” Ruby muttered.

“What?”

“I was so sure...but then again, I only saw it in a dream...he was right here!  And now Umbridge is dead, and we’re all going to be expelled…”

Yang turned around to face Ruby.  “We can’t stop until we know Uncle Qrow is safe.  We don’t have time to doubt ourselves now.” She thought for a moment.  “Why here?”

“What?”

“Why would Salem come here?  Why has she been focused on this room in the Department of Mysteries?”

“Well, when she was...hurting him, she wanted him to give her something.”

Yang’s eyes widened.  “What if that thing is still here?”

Ruby gestured to the identical globes surrounding them.  “They all look the same! How are we going to tell?”

Yang took her thumb and ran it along the edge of the shelf, exposing a line of tarnished bronze labels beneath each orb.  “They’re labeled.” She shook the dust off her hand.

“Yang, you’re a genius!”

Ruby walked a few feet down the alley.  “This would have been the closest he might have been.  Then she walked past Yang and a few feet in the other direction.  “And this would have been the furthest, so if it’s still here, it’ll be in this area.”

They each took a side and began to wipe the dust off the shelves, examining the orbs and their labels.  Most of them looked like gibberish--they had lines of letters followed by a few words, sometimes names, which didn’t always make sense.  

After a few minutes, one of the labels caught Ruby’s eye and she stopped.

_ SPT to O _

_ The Silver-Eyed Child _

Ruby checked the others around it.  None of the other ones referenced a child, nor anything else familiar.

“Yang, I found something,” Ruby said.

Her sister moved to look over her shoulder.  “You have silver eyes.”

“Duh.  And there’s a legend about silver eyes and the Grimm.”

“You think that might be what Salem wanted?”

“I don’t know.”  Ruby picked up the heavy glass orb and brushed the dust off.  It glowed softly from within and had a subtle warmth, like the first rays of sunlight on a summer day were contained inside.

“Wonderful,” a familiar voice said, and Ruby and Yang spun around so abruptly that Ruby nearly dropped the ball.  “Now hand it over.”

Raven Branwen stood behind them.  More cultists stepped out of the air, having Apparated into the chamber, their wands raised.

“Where’s our uncle?” Ruby demanded.

Another woman with short brown hair standing behind Raven scoffed.  “You’re in no position to bargain.”

“Vernal is correct,” Raven said.  “Now give me the prophecy.”

“Not until you tell us where Uncle Qrow is!” Yang interjected, her eyes bright with anger.

“Their loyalty to the drunken traitor is astounding,” observed a Faunus standing away from them, whom Ruby recognized from something she’d seen in Ozpin’s Penseive.  He’d been on trial for belonging to one of Salem’s cults in the past.

“Listen, we know he’s here!” Yang pleaded.

“What a weak and idle theme you have found in this dream!” The Faunus said dramatically.  “For what is reality, but the dream of what is real?”

“Tyrian is right,” Raven said.  “It’s high time for you to learn to stop telling lies, Ruby.  And Yang--I would have thought any daughter of mine would be smarter than this.  So trust that we speak the truth when we say to hand over the prophecy and no one will get hurt.”

“You’re the one who’s lying!” Ruby shouted.  “You’re just going to kill us either way!”

“Accio Prophecy!” Tyrian cried, exaggerating his wand movements.

“Protego!” Ruby blocked the spell.

“If you break it, we’ll kill you too!” Raven shouted at him, but Tyrian only laughed.  “It appears that your sister will have to convince you--”

“No!” Ruby jumped out in front of Yang, holding the prophecy tight.  “What even is this thing? Why does Salem want it?”

“You’re joking.”

“I’m not.  Why’s it important to you?  Salem wouldn’t want it unless she could use it to hurt people--”

“Don’t play games with us.”

“I’m not.”

“Ozpin never told you, then?”  A thin, lanky man with a large, black moustache pushed his way to the front of the group.  He’d been on the wanted posters. “This explains so much! Salem assumed you had to have known!”

“Known what?”

“That you have a prophecy tied to your future!  Yours...and Salem’s.”

“So if it was that important to Salem, why didn’t she just take it?”

“Because this particular prophecy was enchanted to only be able to be removed by the one whose fate it fortells, and since Salem is immortal and you are the first silver-eyed child in generations, we had to run an experiment.  And I suppose that you are the silver-eyed child of legend.” The man smiled.

“Which means we have to kill you.”  A burly man with scarred arms slammed one fist into his opposite palm.

“So that’s what Blake was talking about--”

Yang was interrupted by another voice:  Jaune’s.

“RUN!”

And then things started exploding.  Starting from either end of the room, shelves of glass orbs started falling, releasing what looked like crosses between Patronuses and ghosts, Seers recounting their prophecies before fading away as their containers smashed, releasing them.

Ruby grabbed Yang’s arm and began dragging her the way they came as the cultists scrambled to avoid the falling debris and chase the students.  Shouts and flashes of light peppered the sounds of crashing, shattering glass, and age-old truths being lost forever as spells were cast back and forth.

By a sheer miracle, the end of the aisle at the edge of the room’s passage was free--the room must have been too large and scattered the cultists away from the entrance.  Good.

A masked figure turned into the aisle and ran for them.

“Stupify!” Ruby cast the curse, and the figure fell to the floor.

“Come on!” Yang shouted, and Ruby looked behind them to see Jaune sprinting, his arms over his head to protect himself from the falling glass.

Ruby wrenched the door open and ran through.  Yang held it open, practically throwing Jaune in as soon as he was close enough before slamming the door and shoving a chair under the handle.

“The others went the wrong direction,” Jaune panted.  “Blake and I got split up.” He picked himself off the ground.

In the silence, they heard shouting behind the door.

“We need to hide,” Ruby hissed.

As quietly as they could, the trio ran towards the far door, but they’d only made it halfway through the room before the banging started.

“Quick!” Jaune dove under one of the desks.

Ruby copied him, and so did Yang.  They held their breaths as they waited.  Finally, they heard wood splintering followed by the sound of footsteps.

“Did they make it through?” the buff man who’d threatened to kill them asked.

The small girl who’d gone with him began to check under the desks.

“Good idea,” he said, and took the ones on the other side.

It’d only be a matter of time now…

“Stupefy!”

Ruby’s curse hit the larger man in the ankle, and he fell immediately.  

They couldn’t hide anymore.  

The woman cast a silent charm, her wand shooting green light at Ruby, which went wild the moment Yang jumped up to wrap her arms around her neck and pulled her to the ground.  She tried to Disarm the woman, but the curse went wild and hit Ruby instead, throwing her wand across the room as Ruby yelped in surprise. 

“Stupefy!”  This time, it connected and the woman slumped to the ground.

“Someone’s gonna notice that,” Jaune said nervously.

“Accio Ruby’s wand,” Yang said, and caught Ruby’s wand as it flew towards her.  She handed it back to her sister. 

“There’s another hallway this way!” Jaune said from the end of the clock room near the far door where they’d been trying to get through.  “Maybe we can get back through there…”

“Lose them.  Good idea, Jaune,” Yang said, and they took off running in that direction.

They ran into a dark hallway of offices.  It was dark, quiet, and abandoned. Perfect.

Unfortunately, the cultists’ reinforcements arrived sooner than expected because before Ruby could close the office door they’d unlocked, the same cultists they’d just Stunned burst in.

“Impedimentia!” the man roared, and a wall of energy threw Ruby into Yang, and Yang into Jaune, sending them into a heap on the ground and scattering papers, books, and magical gadgets everywhere.  The desk overturned and they fell into it, barely avoiding being pierced by the legs.

“They’re over here!” the man shouted.  He pointed his wand at them. “Stupefy!”

Yang and Ruby dove in one direction, Jaune went the other.

Then things happened very quickly.  

Jaune cast a Disarming spell at the big guy and his wand flew out of his hand.  Before he could react, Jaune hefted a balance he’d grabbed and whacked the guy in the stomach.

As the man stumbled, he backed into his partner, who had just begun to cast a curse that resembled purple flame in Ruby’s direction, but Yang pushed her down while holding up one arm to protect her face.

The curse hit her hand, which immediately began to turn black.  Yang screamed.

Jaune cast a Body-Bind Curse at the large man and he toppled into the wall and knocked a framed certificate onto his own head.

“Stupefy!” Ruby Stunned the small woman, and she fell onto her companion.

Ruby didn’t spare a moment to catch her breath before kneeling next to her sister.  “Yang!”

Yang curled her body around her arm.  Her jaw was clenched, her eyes squeezed shut.  Her breath came in short, harsh gasps.

She grunted at the sound of her name.

“We need to get help,” Jaune said, standing over Ruby.

“It hurts,” Yang whispered.

“Don’t worry,” Ruby said.  “We’re going to get out of here soon.  Do you...do you think you can get up?”

Yang opened her eyes and Ruby could hear her teeth grinding against each other as she struggled not to scream.  Slowly, Yang put her uninjured arm underneath her and pushed herself upright. She swayed, and her face looked ashen.  The spot where the spell had hit her had initially looked like a small cigarette burn on the side of her hand, but it was definitely larger than that now.

“Help,” she gasped out.

Ruby moved to help her sister, but Jaune stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.  “I’m closer to her height, it’ll be easier with me. And you’re better at fighting.”

Jaune put one arm around Yang’s waist and helped her to her feet.

“We’re almost back to that circular room.  If we can find the right door, you can take Yang and go get help.”

Jaune nodded.  “Let’s go.”

The pain in Yang’s hand was so severe she could barely concentrate to walk, and yet she forced herself.  Each step seemed to take an impossible effort. But finally, they made it out of the hallway. They walked through the rest of the time room, glancing back at the destruction in their wake.  And finally, finally they passed through the black door and into the rotating room.

Jaune set Yang down in the middle of the floor before the room rotated.

After it stopped moving, Ruby ran up to inspect the doors.  The marks had faded. 

“Drat,” she muttered, rubbing the wood, before turning around.

A door on the other side of the room burst open and Ren, Nora, and Blake ran out, falling into a heap in their rush before Ren slammed the door shut.

“Are you guys okay?” Jaune asked.

Nora didn’t look right.  She had a cut on her cheek and her face was pale.  Her eyes weren’t focusing, but she threw her arms up in the air, whacking Ren’s knee.  “Whee!”

Blake pushed herself against the wall.  

“Blake?” Ruby asked.

“We got chased through a room full of planets,” Ren explained.  “I think Blake’s ankle is broken--”

“I’ll be fine,” Blake interjected.

“I got to see Uranus!  Hot butt!” Nora collapsed into giggles quite literally--she fell backwards and her hysterical laughter filled the room.

“Someone grabbed my ankle.  Nora tried to blow them off me,’ Blake explained.

“And Nora?” Jaune asked.

“No idea,” Ren said.  “We could barely drag her out of there.  What about Yang?”

“Some weird curse…but it doesn’t matter now.  We need to get out of here. Jaune, if you could get Yang, Ren can get Blake, and I’ll..get Nora I guess?”

Nora seemed find standing up once she could, not giving half the protests of Blake nor biting her lip until it bled like Yang, but instead babbling nonsense and trying to wander off.  “Nora--” Ruby pleaded, but then Tyrian, Raven, and Vernal ran into the room. “Get them!” Vernal shouted, even though curses already shot through the air.

“Through here!” Ren shouted, opening the door he’d originally come through.  Ruby dragged Nora through, although she was surprisingly strong and kept trying to resist to go play with the pretty lights, then went back to help with Blake and Yang, both of whom needed to be gently handled.  Ruby could tell Blake was moving as fast as she possibly could, hopping in on one foot while gripping Ruby and Ren’s arms until she could sit down, while Jaune had to grab Yang and drag her to get her out of danger.  He dove through the door and they crashed to the ground. Ren slammed the door. “Colloportus!”

The door sealed itself shut and they could hear angry shouts from the other side.  “There’s other ways in,” Raven said, and Ruby shuddered in revulsion.

“Yang?” Ruby asked, crawling over to her sister.  She lit her wand and examined her pale face. She was unconscious.

“She probably passed out from the pain,” Jaune said.  “Sorry.”

“No, you saved her.”

“As long as everyone is still alive, we need to finish sealing the doors,” Ren said.

Ruby paused to look around.  They were back in the brain room.  And as Ren had noticed, more black doors lined the walls here.  Ren started sealing the doors in one direction while Jaune went the opposite way.  Ruby ran straight ahead, sprinting through the room to the far wall and started moving back towards Ren.

“Colloportus!”

“Colloportus!”

“Colloportus!”

For much of a minute, the sounds of three people casting spells as fast as possible filled the room until Ren shouted.  Ruby turned just in time to see him be pushed into a desk by Raven. His head cracked down hard on the edge and he lay still, half underneath it.

“She’s over there!”

However, despite the tense situation, everyone had to pause for a moment when Nora wandered through the room between the two groups.  Ruby hadn’t heard her approach. “They’re all wiggly,” Nora said, and poked her wand into the top of a tank.

“Nora, no--”

The brains tentacles wrapped around Nora’s wrist and she screamed.

“Get it off!  Ruby, get it off!”  Nora didn’t seem capable of defending herself.  She began to sob as the brain’s tentacles grew and slithered their way up her arms and began to wrap around her torso.

“It’ll kill her!” Blake shouted.  “Diffendo!”

But her angle was bad and the curse missed.

Ruby ran over to Nora and a bolt of silver light passed over her head.  She tried to use her knife to cut the tendrils, but she couldn’t get enough force with Nora writhing around and not being able to touch the thing.  It didn’t matter anyway, as she had to jump out of the way when two Stunning spells flew her direction.

By the time she looked over, Blake had been Stunned too.

She met Jaune’s eyes when she turned towards the other side of the room where he was attempting to Stun anything that moved.

“Come on!” Ruby shouted.  To her surprise, she still had the orb in one hand and she held it up as she ran in earnest, just wanting to draw the fight away from this room before things could get any worse.

All her friends were hurt...this was her fault…

She had to get the prophecy away from them.

She ran around to the nearest open door and wrenched it open, and Jaune followed her, sprinting around the edge of the wall.

When Ruby’s foot went over the threshold, she hadn’t prepared for there to be stairs.

She flew through the air, bouncing down the steps, the ball and her head pressed into her body while her ribs, shoulders, back, and legs took the brunt of the impacts.

She landed hard and struggled to her feet, barely able to breathe.  Somehow, she’d made it out with her wand and the prophecy intact, Jaune at her side while the other cultists struggled to race down the stairs as a group.

They were in the room with the giant curtain on the dais surrounded by benches.

Ruby climbed up onto the raised platform, holding out a hand to help Jaune climb up beside her.  They stood back-to-back, surveying the small crowd gathering in front of them.

Ruby felt something wet on the side of her face and raised one hand to wipe it away.  Her palm came away red.

The small girl and the buff man were once again among the crowd.

“It seems you’ve reached your end,” Raven said.  “Hand it over, and no one will get hurt.”

“Let the others leave and you can have it,” Ruby said.

“Ruby, no!” Jaune said.

“No one has to die for this, Jaune.  Go back and help the others.”

“Pyrrha already died for this, and they’ll have to kill me first if they think they’re going to get anyone else I care about!”  The mention of Pyrrha had fired Jaune up. “So which one of you killed her, huh?” 

The cultists laughed.

“Tell me!”

“Killed whom?” Raven asked.  

“Take care of this mess before it gets out of hand, Branwen,” the bulky man said.

“If you insist, Hazel.”  She raised her wand and pointed it at Jaune, who had his own wand extended and trembling at the end of his arm.  “Crucio!”

Jaune collapsed to the ground, screaming and writhing in pain until Raven pulled her wand away.

“Now give it to us, or I’ll make sure he loses his mind.”

Ruby felt sweat drip into her cuts, making them burn.  Panic and anxiety overtook her and she just felt so out of her depth as Raven cursed Jaune again and again, making him scream--

“Fine!” Ruby yelled.  “Have your stupid prophecy!”   She threw the glass orb in the air--and it went backwards and upwards, and Ruby caught it again.

She spun in confusion.

From another set of doors leading into the room, five people had just entered:  her father, Uncle Qrow, Mad-Eye Moody, Coco, and Mr. Belladonna.

The fight became chaos.  Spells soared everywhere.  Benches exploded and floorboards were scorched by the bolts of energy.  Ruby saw Coco Stun someone, got a brief glimpse of Mr. Belladonna hefting a man and throwing him across the room, saw her father dodge a curse.

“We need to go,” Jaune said, taking Ruby’s hand and leading her off the dais and around its side, trying to stay out of sight.  Which worked for about a total of fifteen seconds before a giant hand lifted Ruby by her robes and slammed her into the side of the dais.

Hazel glared at her with murder in his eyes.  “HAND IT OVER!”

Jaune Stunned him and as he fell, Ruby toppled on top of his body.  She scrambled to her feet, checking the orb still gripped in her sweaty hand.

They turned the next corner around the dais.  No one had yet come through that door, so it could be a way out.

Unfortunately, the man with the moustache stood on that side of the dais over Moody’s body, and he reacted more quickly than Ruby or Jaune could.

He cast a Jelly-Legs Jinx that hit Jaune and sent him crashing to the floor and sent the curse of purple fire at Ruby, who blocked it just in time.  “Protego!”

The spell shattered the shield and dissipated.

He raised his wand again, but before he could cast another spell, a dark shape flew through the air, and before they knew it, the cultist was on the ground, Qrow having charged straight into him as a bird, transforming back into human to use his momentum to throw the man to the ground.

“Run!” he ordered as he distracted the man, and Ruby bent down, helping Jaune get his arm around her neck to support him.

They struggled up the steps. Jaune basically needed to be dragged along until his legs worked again.

“Go!” Jaune kept pleading, but Ruby just couldn't move quickly enough with so much dead weight.

And then she tripped.

One of Jaune’s feet caught on the edge of a bench and the sudden resistance sent both of them sprawling.  Ruby reached out to catch herself, and the orb smashed into the stone beneath her fingers, driving glass shards into her hand.

Ruby’s screams drowned out the sounds of the spectre’s voice before it faded away.

“Look out!” Jaune called from behind her.  Didn’t he realize--oh.

The doors above them had opened.  They weren’t going to make it out now.

But to their surprise, Professor Ozpin appeared at the top, sprinting through the door like he was running a marathon.

Ruby prepared for him to crash to the steps, for him to roll into them and send them back to the ground.

But instead he took a giant leap, vanished, and reappeared next to the dais, on which Raven and Qrow were fighting furiously.  While many of the bolder cultists focused in on Ozpin, the smarter ones ran. But neither Qrow nor Raven noticed nor cared.

“You TRAITOR!” Raven screamed.

“But at least I’m not a coward!” Qrow shouted back.  He raised his wand to attack, but his bravado had brought his defenses down and Raven’s spell struck him in the chest, sending him flying backwards and into the veil.

For Ruby, it happened in slow motion.  First, her uncle was on his feet, smiling confidently, then he was in the air.  His smile faded and his body arced. Then his shoulders hit the fabric and he fell through the arch.

Ruby waited for him to appear on the other side.

But he didn’t.

“Uncle Qrow?” she asked the air.  “Uncle Qrow?”

Ruby left Jaune and forgot her bloody hand as she raced down the stairs to the dais.  Raven was staring into the fabric, still as a statue.

Suddenly, an arm crossed her chest, stopping Ruby in her path.  Her father stood in front of her. Ruby struggled to push him out of the way, but he was larger and stronger.

“We’ve got to get him!”

“Ruby, it’s too late--”

“No!”

Her father’s arms went from being a barrier to wrapping around her in a bear hug as the impact of what had just happened hit Ruby.

Uncle Qrow was gone.  Not just gone for now, on the other side of a sheet.

Gone forever.

Yang came to in the room full of brains in tanks.

The pain was blinding--but it had now moved up her arm.  She couldn’t feel her hand and wrist--both of which had turned black.

Yang swallowed hard and forced herself to stop and think.  She surveyed the room. Nora...Nora was lying still on the floor, covered in goo.  Welts covered the skin on her arms and neck and crept onto her chin and cheeks, but as she watched, Yang saw her chest rise and fall.

Next to her, Blake had been Stunned, but otherwise she looked fine.

Ren was nowhere to be seen, nor were Ruby or Jaune.

How long had she been lying here?

“Help!”  Yang cried.  “Help!”

Her voice echoed around the chamber.  No answer came.

She was on her own, then.

Yang used her good arm to pull herself to her feet, every motion causing pain to shoot up her arm, but as long as she remembered to breathe...remembered to breathe…

She shook the lightheadedness away and pulled herself to the nearest door, which had had its lock broken and swung loosely on abused hinges.

It was the circular room, the one that turned.

And if she didn’t die in there, it was her best shot for finding the way out.

Once the broken door had closed behind her, the room spun.  Once it settled, Yang noticed that all the doors looked identical from this side and another wave of pain and despair washed over her.  “Help me!” she cried. “HELP ME!”

As if in response to her tears and her hopelessness, one of the doors swung open, showing her the stone hallway she’d come through so long ago.

Yang grit her teeth and pulled herself to the doorway and then got to her feet.  She leaned on the wall, clutching her injured arm against her as she forced each foot in front of the other and down the corridor, which seemed far too long and impossible to traverse.

She wanted to give up.  She wanted to give up, but she didn’t know how long it had been.  She didn’t know if Ruby was dead or if anyone knew they were down there.  She didn’t want to die down there alone. She didn’t want Ruby to die alone.

Yang was nearly out of breath when she pulled herself to the elevators, but that sight alone gave her hope.  She was nearly there, nearly out! She couldn’t give up now...had to get help…

She screamed as she threw her shoulder against the button, but it pressed and she heard a mechanical rattling inside the wall.

Yang managed, somehow, to get to the Atrium and to force her way out of the elevator.  A familiar silhouette moved away from her.

“Stop!” Yang shouted, and hoped that she hadn’t sounded as pathetic as she felt.

Her mother turned.  “Yang.”

“You...have...to stop...this,” Yang choked out through the blinding ache consuming her consciousness.

“You don’t understand.  There are things out there bigger than yourself.”  Raven’s voice echoed across the room. She turned and began to walk back.  “Join me. Start your life again. I’ll be a better mother. I promise.”

“You’ve had...fifteen years….to be a better mother,” Yang said through gritted teeth.  “That’s...enough...chances.” 

Raven’s voice hardened and any maternal air she might have had faded.  “Then I can’t let you leave here.”

From her belt, Raven pulled a small knife and ran it across her palm.  As the blood dripped onto the ground, dark tendrils of energy rose around them and the temperature of the air dropped several degrees.

The energy coalesced into a Grimm, a snake, which slithered towards Yang and which she could no more run from than counter.

She was so cold...Yang sank to the floor, shivering…

Then, she felt warmth like the sun.  Yang opened her eyes in surprise.

On one side of the room stood Professor Ozpin.  Energy glowed around him. He was the source of the warmth.

And on the other side of the room stood Salem.

Ozpin launched himself at Salem, and they began to battle in front of the fountain, tearing into each other without wands, but with pure energy, moving at almost inhuman speeds.

When they finally broke apart, evenly matched, Ozpin held his head high.  “You shouldn’t have come here.”

“I can come and go where I please,” Salem said.  

She cast a bolt of dark energy at Ozpin, and he shattered it effortlessly with a golden shield cast straight from his fingertips.

“You know you can’t win.”

“That isn’t my goal.”

“I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.”

Ozpin dodged another spell before sending an emerald ball at Salem.  “On the contrary.” The room began to glow. “You have a body now.”

The light and heat overwhelmed the room, blinding Yang and forcing her head to the ground as she screamed against the pain.  She could hear shattering--other screaming--an explosion--

Everything faded and Yang opened her eyes again.  Sound filtered into her ears again--voices. People were flooding into the room.

From the sounds of things, her mother had gone.  So had Salem.

Ozpin’s eyes glowed a brilliant gold behind his small dark glasses.

“She was over there!” a woman shouted.  “Mr. Fudge!”

“I saw her,” Fudge breathed.  The footsteps drew closer. “Ozpin!  Salem was here! What--how?”

“I believe that the answer to that lies with the fugitives captured in the Department of Mysteries,” Ozpin said.  “You will find several Ministry personnel guarding them.”

“But why?”

“It needed to be done more than we needed to hold grudges.”

Fudge didn’t speak for a moment.  When he recovered his voice, his confusion and bravado had faded and he just sounded sad.  “What happened in here?”

“I feel like that is a longer conversation than we have time for.  I have injured students in here, Cornelius.”

Fudge sounded stunned.  “Students? Why are your students here?”

Ozpin glanced at Yang.  “I’m afraid I’m not entirely sure of that myself.”  It was that gesture that got Fudge to notice her.

“That’s Xiao Long’s daughter!”  He knelt down in front of Yang, brushing her hair out of the way.  Yang was too tired and in too much pain to react.

“So you see the necessity…”

The voices faded away and Yang’s world faded back to black.


	31. Blame

Ruby went to Professor Ozpin’s office alone this time.  They had all gone back to the castle by Portkey. And the moment Madam Pomfrey had cleaned her scrapes and cuts and picked the last of the glass out of her hand, she sent Ruby up to Professor Ozpin.

She had not been allowed to see Yang.

Ruby just wanted to know that her sister would be okay.  She had to. No one else could die tonight (today?) or Ruby’s heart would burst.

She knocked numbly on Professor Ozpin’s door.  It sounded hollow.

Professor Ozpin answered, standing aside to let her in.  

Ruby stood, not sure what to do or how to react, in the middle of the office.  She was so tired. Her body ached. And she felt so sad.

“It has been a long night,” Professor Ozpin said.  He, too, seemed subdued.

“It’s all my fault,” Ruby whispered.  The tears she’d been holding back began to flow like water from behind a burst dam.

“No, Ruby,” Professor Ozpin said.  “It’s mine.”

Ruby looked up at him.  “But I lead everyone to the Department of Mysteries!  I believed that stupid dream, and I got everyone hurt, and I put them in danger, and--and you didn’t do anything!”

“That is why tonight happened, Ruby. Because I made the decision not to act when I should have done so.  I underestimated Salem, and I should have known better.” He turned to face the window through which the first rays of morning light shone.

“But why?” Ruby asked.  “She’s...she’s a god. And you’re...just human.  You can’t have known. Please, Professor, I just want to see my sister.”

“I think, to understand what is going on, we need to start at the beginning.”  He took a breath. “The year you were born, I heard a prophecy as I was interviewing a new Divination teacher.  She said, and I quote, “ _ The child will have silver in her eyes.  The child, born to warriors and lies, to whom darkness dies, for if the powers of light stand with her, then darkness cannot stand against her.  For it’s a tale as old as time, if one power lives, than the other must lie. _ ”  You are the child with the silver eyes, Ruby.  If I had any uncertainties about it before, they are gone now.  You picked up the prophecy, after all. But I’ve suspected at least since you came to Hogwarts that you may be the one.”

“Why?” Ruby asked.

“I knew when I saw you that you had silver eyes--a rare trait in and of itself, but even more valuable since the prophecy had not yet been fulfilled.  You are female, and the prophecy uses female pronouns. Your mother and father were--are, in your father’s case--Aurors. And your father cheated on Raven with Summer, resulting in you.  As for the rest...I’m afraid that is still yet to come.”

“But you must have some idea!”

“Of course.”

“And the last line--does that mean one of us has to die too?”

Ozpin smiled slightly.  “No. That part of the prophecy, I’m almost certain, does not involve you.”

“Then who is it about?”

“That is a matter for another time.”  Ozpin sighed. “I will tell you anyway, I suppose.  Protecting you--any of you children--by withholding knowledge has done no good thus far.  So although you should not know and should never need to know about the life and trials of one such as I, I will tell you anyway.  And maybe then, Ruby, will I absolve myself of the wrongs I have done.” Ozpin sat at his desk, the motion inviting Ruby to sit across from him.  “The last lines of the prophecy are about me.”

“About you?”

“Everything in nature has a counterpart.  The cold is balanced by the heat, the air by the ground, the aggression by the peace.  So why, when there is so much talk of Salem being the goddess of darkness, is there no discussion of a deity of light?”

“Are you saying...you’re the god of light?”

Ozpin nodded.  “Salem and I have been locked in battle for an eternity.  She has her realm of death and darkness, and I have mine, here.”  He gestured around him. “This earth is my domain. I raised it up from nothing.  And as she has always done, Salem seeks to tear it down by whatever means necessary, to drive me out and take it for her own.  And she has accomplished that in the past, destroying so many lives and so many hopes--that I should have known better this time around.  I should have seen that she would target you, and equipped you with the knowledge to defend yourself. And that is why Qrow’s death is my fault--if you had been better prepared, then you would have hesitated instead of fleeing for the Department of Mysteries.”

“But we checked,” Ruby said quietly, and her words sounded so small.  She didn’t even care if what Ozpin had said was true, or what it meant, or how it sounded.  She was too tired to question it, and so accepted it as truth, because she couldn’t spare any more energy to sort between lies and the truth anymore.  “Kreacher said he wasn’t there.”

“Kreacher lied.  You are not his master, Ruby.”

Finally, Ruby felt angry.  “But why? Why would he do that?”

“Because although he has to follow the laws of his kind and obey your uncle, he would much rather follow the orders of your aunt, whom he has been visiting occasionally since the Branwen house was made the headquarters for the Order.”

“Why?”

“Because Qrow would order him to go away in frustration, so Kreacher took that literally.  He left the house and sought out Raven, who gave him orders to deceive you, to distract your uncle and father when Salem was going to trick you into coming to the Department of Mysteries, and to feed her information about who visited the house.”

“How do you know this?”

“Professor Oobleck contacted me about the message you gave him, and I, in turn, contacted Qrow.  A rescue mission was arranged. Those whom you saw at the Ministry--your father, Miss Adel, her friend Fox Alistair, and Moody all volunteered to come.  Professor Oobleck searched the school grounds. And while he was supposed to be watching the house, Qrow decided to act as backup. I arrived to find Kreacher alone and managed to convince him--using some of the same techniques Professor Oobleck used on you during the failed Occlumency lessons--to tell me what had happened.”

Professor Ozpin’s eyes looked off beyond Ruby’s head.  “So you see, I am to blame. My own arrogance and failure to allow others access to my knowledge cost your uncle his life and only made a bad situation worse.”  He stood. “You should go and get some sleep,” Professor Ozpin said. “And if you choose not to forgive me after what I have told you, I understand.”

He paused.  “All I ask is that you continue to fight alongside me until the prophecy is fulfilled.”

 

The first headline on the Daily Prophet the next day told Ruby everything she needed to know about how the Ministry was going to go forward.

_ SALEM COME TO LIFE _

_ In a brief statement Friday night, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed rumors that the Dark Mistress has gained physical form and now walks the Earth. _

_ “It is with great regret that I must say the cultists have succeeded in their greatest endeavor: bringing their goddess to this world.  It is with almost equal regret that I must report the defection of the Dementors from Azkaban. It is our assumption that they are working under Salem’s command, as she is their goddess.  We urge the magical population to remain vigilant. Within the next few days, the Ministry will be publishing guides to home and property defense, which will be distributed free-of-charge to all who request one.” _

_ This comes on the heels of last week’s press conference, at which the Minister reassured the population yet again that the cults were acting independently and that the Ministry was taking harsh actions against them. _

_ Details of the events that lead to the Minister’s sudden change of opinion in regards to the threats posed by the cults are hazy and details are still developing.  As of now, it is only known that Salem and a group of her followers gained access to the Ministry on Thursday evening. _

_ Professor Ozpin, newly reinstated headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, reinstated member of the International Confederation of Wizards, and reinstated Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot was unavailable for comment.  He has insisted for a year that Salem had legitimately taken form upon the Earth in order to lead her followers into a new age. For more, see page 6. _

Ruby set down the paper.

Since returning to Hogwarts, everything seemed different.  

For one, Yang was no longer with her, having been rushed to St. Mungo’s Hospital to try and save her withered arm.  As for everyone else, Jaune, Ren, and Blake had all had their injuries looked over and repaired before being sent along, while Nora had to remain in the hospital wing so that Madam Pomfrey could try and get rid of the painful scars covering every part of her skin that had been touched by the brain.

As Ruby let her eyes wander out the window, she heard someone sit down in front of her.  Jaune had taken the other seat at the table.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.”

“I’m sorry about your uncle.”

“Thanks.”

“Is Yang gonna be okay?”

“I haven’t heard anything.”

They sat in awkward silence for a few moments.

“Well, I gotta go,” Jaune muttered, and walked off.

 

Whitley approached Weiss in the Slytherin Common Room.  In his hand was a letter from their father.

“They’re going to have to pay for what they did,” he hissed through his teeth.

“Of course.”

“They set everything back!  Father says if only the Ministry had just kept believing that Salem was nonsense--”

“Come on, Whitely.  You can’t hide a literal god forever.”

“Still!  Something must be done!”

“I’m not disagreeing with you.”  Weiss stood. “But if we act rashly, we won’t be prepared for all eventual outcomes.  Just like they weren’t prepared last night for Ozpin to show up at the Ministry. They like the element of surprise.  We have to take that away from them, and that takes work.” She pushed past Whitley as she picked up her book and left the Common Room.

Up yours, brother.

 

Ruby didn’t want to go to the end-of-year feast and hear Professor Ozpin talk about Salem.  She didn’t want to think about that night in the Ministry. She didn’t really want to think or talk at all, even though talking seemed to be what most people thought she should be doing.  So she went to her dorm instead, planning on eating her stash of Honeydukes candy saved from the last Hogsmeade visit, but that seemed less appealing when the memory of sneaking off to visit Uncle Qrow during a visit the previous year passed through her head.

She went to her room anyway.

To her surprise, Nora was in there packing.  Despite the heat, she wore long sleeves and gloves.  Pink marks still faded up her neck and over onto her face.  It was the first time Ruby had seen Nora since that day.

“Hey,” Ruby greeted her, then went over to begin gathering her own things from her portion of the room.

Yang’s belongings had already been collected.

Nora didn’t say anything for a minute.  “Sorry about Qrow,” she said softly. “It really sucks.”

‘Really sucks’ weren’t the words Ruby would have used, but the sentiments were there.  “Thanks.”

“He seemed pretty cool,” Nora continued, even though Ruby wished she wouldn’t.  “I wish I’d gotten to know him better. I wish you guys had more time together. You made him really happy.”

Something about that last bit made Ruby look up.  “How do you know?”

“There was a way he looked at you and Yang...and I could just tell.”  Nora blushed. “Sorry, it’s hard to explain. To me, it was just really obvious that he loved you guys like his own kids.”

They continued to work in silence for a few minutes before something occurred to Ruby.  “Whom did you see die?”

“What?”

“You could see the thestrals, even before I could.  Did you...lose someone too?”

Nora thought for a moment.  “I’m not actually sure whom I saw die.  I wasn't lying when I told Professor Umbridge about that in class.  Probably a few people. I was raised in a drug house until my mom abandoned me.  When you need to keep taking more and more of something to get the same high, it’s not unlikely that you’ll eventually overdose.  And when everyone around you is afraid of being caught by the police, it’s not like anyone’s going to get help.”

Ruby didn’t really have anything to say to that, but her silence seemed to invite Nora to talk more.  “My mom abandoned me. I don’t know if she’s dead or not. Never knew my dad. It was a pretty bad way to grow up, but I survived it.  And I guess I know if I can survive that, I can survive anything.” She looked up and smiled at Ruby. “Especially with friends by my side.  Things get easier when you know you’re not alone.” Nora tossed a few more things into her messy trunk before standing. “I’m gonna go see if the house elves have any leftovers.  Want anything?”

“No thanks.”

But Ruby found that she felt lighter after Nora left, even though her words hadn’t been what Ruby had wanted to hear in the moment.  Their situations weren’t the same--Nora had come from nothing, while Ruby had lost something dear. But Nora had survived, and in telling Ruby her story, had conveyed subtle hope that Ruby could survive too.  Faith that she would survive and heal.

Professor Ozpin had begged her to fight by his side.  Ruby was in Gryffindor House, home of the brave, surrounded by those who gave her the courage to stand up where others wouldn’t.  So even though Uncle Qrow was gone, and Yang was hurt, and life was horrible...maybe it could go on. 

Maybe she didn’t have to feel so alone and hopeless.

Maybe somewhere, there was a light in the darkness.

Ruby just had to find it first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my story! 
> 
> Once again, Kudos and comments are appreciated.


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